Jacob Elordi and Lily-Rose Depp are in talks to play twisted siblings in Laszlo Nemes‘ adaptation of Cormac McCarthy‘s novel “Outer Dark.” Deadline reported that the feature will shoot in 2026, with “Son of Saul” and “Sunset” Oscar winner Nemes making his English-language debut with the project.
“Outer Dark” is billed as a “dark fairytale” that takes place in Appalachia during the Great Depression. Depp will play a young woman who gives birth to her brother’s (Elordi) baby. The brother tells his sister that the newborn died of natural causes, but he secretly leaves the baby in the woods to die.
The logline teases that, as the siblings both search for the missing child for their own separate reasons, “three terrifying strangers are on their tails, wreaking death and destruction wherever they appear.” The novel was released in 1968. McCarthy’s other novels “No Country for Old Men” and “The Road” have both previously been adapted to the screen.
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Nemes is writing the screenplay for “Outer Dark” with Clara Royer, and also will produce along with Mike Goodridge of Good Chaos. The executive producers are Ilene Feldman, Ori Eisen of Original Films, and Nicolas Gonda.
“Since reading ‘Outer Dark’ the first time, it has been my dream to make it into a film, and to find the appropriate cinematic language that would do justice to Cormac McCarthy’s evocative and cosmological work. Joined by two magnetic actors, I now feel it’s possible,” Nemes said in a press statement. “The extraordinary source material is a profound inspiration to build a unique world that vibrates with life and death at the same time. An exciting road-movie, a terrible and beautiful journey into the labyrinth of the human soul — this is the ambition I have for ‘Outer Dark.’”
Deadline noted that producer Goodridge, whose “Left-Handed Girl” just debuted at Cannes, is in early talks with potential partners for the project, despite the feature not formally being on sale at the festival.
Depp most recently starred in “Nosferatu.” Elordi is returning to “Euphoria” for Season 3, and recently led TV series “The Narrow Road to the Deep North.” He will next star in Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein” as the cental monster, plus portray literary icon Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights.” Elordi is also leading Ridley Scott’s “Dog Stars,” which is now in production.
