Vincent Cassel

The Capucin monk, Ambrosio, is a respected servant of God, but he slowly becomes undone by his carnal lust for one of his pupils, who happens to be a woman in disguise. She is eventually revealed to be a nefarious agent for Satan who has been summoned to orchestrate Ambrosio's downfall. French-German director Dominik Moll will be helming this story, which stars Vincent Cassel as Ambrosio.

The Monk is set in 18th century Madrid and also stars Deborah Francois (The First Day of the Rest of Your Life), Sergi Lopez (Leaving) and Geraldine Chaplin (The Orphanage). Was anyone else hoping Cassel's gorgeous and equally talented wife, Monica Bellucci, would be playing the satanic vixen? Still, I love watching the sinister and enigmatic Cassel on the big screen. He just finished Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, co-starring Nathalie Portman.

Matthew Lewis' Gothic novel of the same name provides the basis for the film. If you dig this story I would highly recommend checking out Antonin Artaud's version of The Monk. The differences are minimal but Artaud's twists to the story are demented and beautiful as always. Artaud has some experience as a monk himself in Carl Theodor Dreyer's stunning, landmark film, The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Darren Aronofsky's latest film is a thriller with a supernatural twist. Black Swan, is currently in pre-production and Slash Film recently revealed full casting details for the film. It was already announced that Natalie Portman will star as Nina, a veteran ballerina competing against a mysterious rival dancer, Lily, played by Mila Kunis. As the dancers approach an important performance, Nina starts to question if her rival is a supernatural apparition or if she's having delusions and her identity starts to blur with that of her eerily similar competitor. To the absolute joy of fanboys everywhere, the film includes an "ecstasy-induced hungry, aggressive, angry sex" scene between Portman and Kunis. Having flashbacks to Requiem for a Dream yet?

Joining the cast of Black Swan will be Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder and Barbara Hershey. Ryder plays Beth, Nina's frienemy who used to be the star dancer but is nearing the end of her career. Hmm. Cassel is the "handsome but sinister" (love him but no shocker here) Yevna who is the stage director and Hershey is Nina's mother.

The film has been described as a slow-burner which seems appropriate for Aronofsky. He has a knack for building an unbearable tension with his visual and aural style. I'm seriously skeptical that Portman and Kunis can carry the film but with several Academy Award nominated actors in the mix perhaps I'll be convinced that the raunchy sex scene wasn't just added to detract from two deer in the headlights.

The original script for Black Swan was written by John McLaughlin and has been rewritten by Mark Heyman, co-producer of Aronofsky's The Wrestler. It's rumored that Fox Searchlight is close to acquiring the distribution rights as the project makes the rounds. You can expect to see Black Swan sometime in 2010.