The headline above is deeply improbable on multiple levels, and we want to stress what a strange and notable announcement this is.
Dargio Argento has not directed a feature film in eight years, his last effort being the critically savaged Dracula 3D in 2012. He’ll turn 80 in September, and many film critics would argue that his last film of substantial merit was released more than 30 years ago, in 1990 or earlier.
Daft Punk hasn’t collaborated with a filmmaker on a soundtrack in a decade, since they produced the well-regarded electronic music accompaniment to Tron: Legacy. Music fans have surely wanted to hear another Daft Punk soundtrack in the years since, but who could have predicted that it would come as a collaboration with Argento of all people?
Nevertheless, that’s apparently what is happening, as Argento has stated that his newest film Black Glasses, starring his daughter Asia, will be anchored by a soundtrack from Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. It will be just the latest in a career full of notable musical collaborations for Argento, whose films were often defined by the music of groups like Goblin or legendary composers like Ennio Morricone.
Argento described Black Glasses as a “crime film,” which would presumably put it more in line with 2009’s (also critically savaged) Giallo than his supernatural horror films like Suspiria or Dracula 3D.
“It will be my return to crime films,” Argento said to Italian outlet Repubblica. “It’s the adventure, in the nocturnal Rome, of a Chinese girl and child. In the second part, the escape takes them into the rocky, bushy countryside of Lazio. [It’s] different from the sweetness of the Tuscan valleys, but for me beautiful.”
Perhaps even more unbelievably, Argento goes on to say that it was in fact Daft Punk that reached out to him, wanting to get involved in Black Glasses.
“They are my admirers, they know all my cinema,” Argento said. “They heard from French friends that I was shooting a new film and called me [to say], ‘We want to work with you.’”
Argento goes on to say that the duo plans to travel to Rome to collaborate when it is safe to do so, and that they called the script for Black Glasses one of his “most interesting.” We can only assume that they’re hoping it will turn out more like The Bird with the Crystal Plumage or Deep Red than the likes of Giallo.
Regardless of what ultimately happens, the mere involvement of Daft Punk is going to turn a lot of eyes toward this project, so we’ll all be hoping that Argento has one last bloody classic in him. Black Glasses was meant to begin production in May, but Argento is reportedly now eyeing September as a possible start date.
