Jacques Audiard Netflix horror film will adapt La Nuit ravagée
Netflix has optioned Jean-Baptiste Del Amo’s horror novel and tapped Jacques Audiard to develop a French-language original film.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
Jacques Audiard’s Netflix horror move is official in the works: the streamer has optioned Jean-Baptiste Del Amo’s novel La Nuit ravagée and brought in the French filmmaker to develop it as a French-language original film, Variety reported.
The project reunites Netflix with Audiard after Emilia Pérez, the audacious musical crime drama that became one of last awards season’s loudest titles. Netflix declined to comment to Variety on the new film.
What is La Nuit ravagée about?
La Nuit ravagée is a horror novel set in the early 1990s in Saint-Auch, a made-up suburb near Toulouse in southern France. The story centers on teenagers who become fascinated by a deserted house with a disturbing pull over them.
After one friend dies in troubling circumstances, the group goes inside the house and discovers something supernatural. Once they enter, the place draws on their fears, longings and traumas, turning inner wounds into a monstrous threat.
Gallimard published Del Amo’s novel last year. Variety reported that the book has been praised as a tribute to horror cinema of the 1980s and 1990s, with Stephen King named as a key touchstone, while also mixing genre scares with social realism.
The novel’s themes include racism, homophobia and domestic violence, along with the raw unease of adolescence, according to Variety’s account of its critical reception.
Why the project is a new turn for Audiard
Audiard has made acclaimed films about people pushed through harsh worlds, including A Prophet, Dheepan, Rust and Bone and Emilia Pérez. Variety noted that La Nuit ravagée would be his first step into horror.
The filmmaker’s last feature, Emilia Pérez, was a Spanish-language musical crime drama shot in France. Its cast was led by Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz.
The film won the jury prize at Cannes and its four female leads jointly received the festival’s best actress award. It later landed 13 Oscar nominations and won two Academy Awards: supporting actress for Saldaña and original song.
Its awards campaign was disrupted before the Oscars after offensive past tweets by Gascón resurfaced, Variety reported. In France, the film also took seven César Awards from 12 nominations, including best film.
Who is Jean-Baptiste Del Amo?
Del Amo is also the author of Le Règne Animal, his 2016 novel that was adapted into a French sci-fi adventure film directed by Thomas Cailley. That film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won five César Awards.
The Netflix deal also lands while horror is enjoying strong box office attention. Variety cited Backrooms and Obsession as breakout hits this year, with worldwide grosses of $387 million and $443 million, respectively.
Because the Audiard project is being made as a Netflix original, Variety reported it will probably bypass cinemas in France, where release-window rules limit Netflix’s access to theatrical films for 15 months.
Audiard now joins a group of international filmmakers who have made original films with Netflix, including Guillermo del Toro, Lee Chang-dong and Fernando Meirelles.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.