George Miller's Three Thousand Years Of Longing To Debut At Cannes

Announced by Variety today, Academy Award-winning director George Miller's newest film "Three Thousand Years of Longing" will debut at this year's Cannes Film Festival, set to be held in France from May 17 to 28 of this year. 

"Three Thousand Years of Longing" will star Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, and its story — largely kept secret as of this writing — will involve a meeting between a scholar and a djinn. Like in the 1992 version of "Aladdin," the scholar will be granted three wishes, and the djinn will be granted freedom from servitude. It is currently unclear which actor will play the djinn and which one the scholar. Further speculations about the plot are just that: speculations. 

Miller's last film as director was "Mad Max: Fury Road," which premiered at Cannes in May of 2015. Swinton, meanwhile, regularly appeared in films screened at Cannes, having appeared in five of the fest's films just last year. 

Miller described "Three Thousand Years of Longing" as an anti-"Mad Max," centering on conversation and calm, rather than action and mayhem. Luckily of audiences, Miller is capable of a directing variety of styles, having made several features appropriate for small children ("Babe: Pig in the City," "Happy Feet" and its sequel), a horror comedy ("The Witches of Eastwick"), a high-profile biopic ("Lorenzo's Oil"), and a film documentary ("40,000 Years of Dreaming") in addition to his well-known action pictures. "Fury Road" was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning six, while "Happy Feet" won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2006. Both "Eastwick" and "Lorenzo's Oil" were nominated for two Academy Awards, and "Babe" was nominated for one, for Best Original Song. 

A North American release date for "Three Thousand Years of Longing" has not yet been announced, but the film will be distributed by MGM. The film's budget is reportedly $60 million. 

Given Miller's energetic, innovative direction, audiences may expect something visually dynamic and exciting, despite its promised lack of action.