Oscar nominees Ralph Fiennes, Colin Farrell and Wagner Moura are set to play three friends in upcoming comedy “Art,” based on French playwright Yasmina Reza’s Tony-winning pay satirising modern art, friendship and intellectual pretension.
The film — launching in the Cannes market with Patrick Wachsberger’s Legendary-backed 193 — is being directed by Fernando Meirelles, the Oscar-nominated Brazilian director best known for “City of God,” “The Constant Gardener” and “The Two Popes,” from a script by two-time Oscar winner Christopher Hampton (“Dangerous Liasons,” “The Father”). CAA are repping U.S. rights.
“Art” follows three friends, Marc, Serge and Yvan, and one ridiculously expensive, plain white painting. It’s procurement by one friend and differing opinions about what constitutes ‘art’ sparks a conflict among the group that uncovers long-held grievances and tension points in their relationships.
The film is being produced by Charles Finch (“Priscilla”) and Tracy Seaward (“The Queen”).
Hampton returns to “Art” 30 years after he translated the original 1994 play for its English-language adaptation, which was directed by Matthew Warchus and opened in the West End in 1996 (starring Albert Finney, Tom Courtney and Ken Stott). “Art” has seen numerous revivals since, including on Broadway in 2025 starring Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris.
193 recently boarded another starry project, the Western thriller “The Brigands of Rattlecreek” being directed by South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook (“No Other Choice,” “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden”), who will adapt the original screenplay by S. Craig Zahler (“Dragged Across Concrete,” “Bone Tomahawk”). The cast includes Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal and Chinese star Tang Wei.
