Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche are set to reunite for the big screen more than two decades after Oscar winning classic The English Patient. This time, the acclaimed duo will star in a Bleecker Street production of the historical epic The Return, which aspires to bring to life Homer’s The Odyssey.
The film will be directed by Uberto Pasolini (Full Monty, Nowhere Special), who also co-wrote part of the script with Edward Bond (Blow-Up, Walkabout) and John Collee (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World).
The Return is set to begin production in Greece this spring in the regions of Corfu and the Peloponnese, before continuing in Italy, France and the UK, while Bleecker Street is planning a 2024 theatrical release for the movie.
The film revolves around a tormented King Odysseus played by Fiennes who washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognisable after 20 years at sea following the Trojan war. Odysseus returns to find his kingdom in disarray and his beloved wife Penelope, played by Binoche, a prisoner in her own home, cunningly deflecting ambitious suitors forcing her to choose a new husband and king to Ithaca. Their son Telemachus (Charlie Plummer), has grown up without a father figure to face death at the hands of the suitors who see him as an obstacle.
It is worth mentioning that distributor HanWay Films successfully kicked off pre-sales for The Return at the Cannes Film Festival to multiple international territories.