Alexander Skarsgård and Hunter Schafer join an Ari Aster-backed movie about doomed nuns and a missing sea captain

Here comes one of those combinations that makes you double check you read it right: Ari Aster is producing a new film, but he isn’t directing this time. Instead, he’s backing a Canadian directing trio for a very odd-sounding film called The Confessions—and there’s a genuinely eclectic cast, too. Right, here’s what’s going on.

The Canadian-Aster Connection

This new one’s helmed by Guy Maddin—yes, that Guy Maddin, Canada’s grandmaster of the offbeat—along with Galen Johnson and Evan Johnson. They’re no strangers to teaming up, and they worked with Aster’s production company Square Peg before on last year’s Rumours (that’s the one with Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander stuck at a spoofed-up G7 summit, in case you blanked on Cannes). So, the crew’s relationship is firmly established, and it’s got Aster’s producing touch all over it, along with his longtime business partner Lars Knudsen.

Who’s Who in the Cast?

• Alexander Skarsgård (fresh off Wicker)
• Hunter Schafer (coming soon in Blade Runner 2099)
• Maya Hawke (will forever be Robin from Stranger Things for some of us)
• Harry Melling (most recently popping up in Pillion)

Definitely not one of those bland, 'can we get everyone from the same agency?' sorts of line-ups. The cross-section’s a bit mad, but I suspect that’s entirely the plan.

Plot? It’s… Out There

This isn’t your usual thriller or prestige drama. The official line is that The Confessions is a 'cautionary psycho-dramedy.' To translate: apparently there’s a gang of doomed nuns who get mixed up in an unholy, globe-trotting love triangle between a missing sea captain and his poet wife. Maddin and the Johnsons are calling this thing 'part religio-maritime rough-music psychomachy, part hallucinated saltwater shaming parade'—so if you expected anything conventional, I’ve got some disappointing news. Expect the unexpected, and probably a healthy dose of the bizarre. Maddin’s reputation suggests nothing less.

The Confessions brings Maya Hawke and Harry Melling together with Skarsgård and Schafer under the Maddin/Johnson/Johnson directorial trio.

Who’s Handling What?

Backing the project, alongside Square Peg and Maddin’s usual gang, is Daniel Bekerman’s Scythia Films and the Canadian outfit Thin Stuff. Telefilm Canada is chucking in support as well, so they’re not shy about championing this one at home. On the business side, CAA Media Finance and WME Independent are wrangling the US rights, while Charades sorts the rest of the globe, and Elevation Pictures will handle Canada specifically.

The producers are taking The Confessions to the next American Film Market, offering it up for further international deals. But—and this will annoy anyone with a diary to keep—there’s no word yet on when it’ll actually start rolling or when we might get to see it.

No production start date or release window for The Confessions has been announced yet.