‘The Beast’: Lea Seydoux & George MacKay To Star In Dystopian Romance Pic From Director Bertrand Bonello

The Cannes Film Festival officially kicks off tomorrow. One of the big films to be screened there is David Cronenberg‘s body horror “Crimes of The Future,” which stars Lea Seydoux (“No Time To Die“) alongside the filmmaker’s longtime muse Viggo Mortensen. Now, the French actress has picked up another nifty genre project on the Cannes Market.

Variety reports that director Bertrand Bonello (“Saint Laurent“) is helming a dystopian sci-fi love story titled “The Beast,” that has Seydoux and George MacKay, the breakout star of Sam Mendes‘ “1917,” attached for lead roles.

Seydoux, of course, also worked with Mendes on the James Bond film “Spectre” and was most recently seen in “No Time To Die” as Daniel Craig ended his tenure as 007.

READ MORE: ‘Crimes Of The Future’: David Cronenberg Predicts Walkouts At Cannes In “First Five Minutes” Due To Graphic Scenes

It’s said that the genre-bending project from the French filmmaker is similar to the films of Cronenberg, David Lynch, and Henry James. A description of the dark sci-fi movie certainly backs that up.

The near-future-set story takes place between Paris and California. In the future, emotions have become a threat and Gabrielle (Seydoux) has finally decided to purify her DNA in a machine that will immerse her in her past lives and rid her of any strong feelings. However, when she meets Louis (Mackay) and feels a powerful connection to him as if she’d known him forever, those plans may change.

French actor Gaspard Ulliel, recently seen in Marvel‘s “Moon Knight,” was previously attached to star in the film, but tragically died back in January, leading to MacKay stepping in.

Kinology, who was behind “Annette,” is handling the sales at Cannes and we’ll be dying to see what the supporting cast ends up looking like in “The Beast.” It will begin shooting this August in both French and English, which should be appealing to an international audience.