Jacob Elordi, Lily-Rose Depp to Star in "Outer Dark" Film Adaptation

Jacob Elordi and Lily-Rose Depp, two of the buzziest young names in the acting industry, are set to star in "Outer Dark," a film based on iconic author Cormac McCarthy’s (No Country For Old Men) dark 1968 novel.

The “dark fairytale”, which is being lined up to shoot in 2026, will mark the English-language debut of Oscar-winning "Son Of Saul" filmmaker Laszlo Nemes.

"Outer Dark" is set in Appalachia during the Great Depression and tells of a young woman who bears her brother’s baby. The brother leaves the nameless infant in the woods to die, but tells his sister that the newborn died of natural causes and had to be buried. The sister discovers this lie and sets out to find the baby for herself. But as both brother and sister separately move through the countryside, three terrifying strangers are on their tails, wreaking death and destruction wherever they appear.

Nemes wrote the screenplay with Clara Royer, while Mike Goodridge of London-based Good Chaos is producing alongside Nemes; executive producers are Ilene Feldman, Ori Eisen of Original Films and Nicolas Gonda. Good Chaos and Nemes have the book-to-screen rights.

Goodridge, the "Triangle Of Sadness" co-producer who has "Left-Handed Girl" playing at this year’s festival, is among the team on the ground in Cannes in early talks with potential partners for the project.

Depp is coming off Oscar-nominated box office hit "Nosferatu" another dark fairytale, while Euphoria and Priscilla star Elordi is coming off excellent notices for "The Narrow Road To The Deep North" and will next be seen as the creature in Guillermo Del Toro’s "Frankenstein", as Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s "Wuthering Heights" and in Ridley Scott’s "Dog Stars", which is in production.

Nemes recently completed his third film "Orphan" (also produced by Goodridge) which is scheduled to premiere at a festival later this year before its October 23 release in Hungary. 

He will next shoot "Moulin", a French-language feature about WWII resistance fighter Jean Moulin which is being sold at the Cannes market by 193. Gilles Lellouche and Lars Eidinger are starring for producer Alain Goldman.

Goodridge is also in post-production on Edward Berger’s next film, "The Ballad Of A Small Player", starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton.

Cormac McCarthy’s lauded novels adapted for the screen include Oscar winner "No Country For Old Men" and Viggo Mortensen starrer "The Road."