Kristen Stewart and Wagner Moura Sink Their Teeth Into 80s Vampire Thriller Flesh of the Gods as Filming Begins in Europe

So A24 is making a vampire movie set in the 1980s. Yeah, I know, those magic words alone are probably enough to get a certain type of film nerd excited. But there’s more to Flesh of the Gods than just neon fangs and shoulder pads. The movie’s just started shooting, and it’s got some heavy hitters both in front of and behind the camera.

Vampires Go Clubbing (With Kristen Stewart)

Flesh of the Gods is now lensing over in the Canary Islands, with the back half of production moving to Cologne, Germany later on. Leading the charge are Wagner Moura and Kristen Stewart, playing Raoul and Alex—a married couple living the high-rise dream in glitzy 1980s LA. Every night, they leave their slick skyscraper apartment to dive into the city’s pulsing, wild nightlife. Think disco lights, synths, and probably a lot of sweat and eyeliner.

Their story really takes off when they run into a mysterious character named Nameless (yes, that’s actually the name), played by Esmé Creed-Miles. Nameless rolls with a pretty hard-partying crowd, and before you know it, Raoul and Alex are being pulled deep into a seductive, totally bonkers subculture packed with glamour, excess, and—because this is a vampire flick—plenty of violence.

Rest of the Cast and the Creative Minds

• Wagner Moura (Narcos) plays Raoul
• Kristen Stewart (Spencer) is Alex
• Esmé Creed-Miles (A Head Full of Ghosts) is Nameless
• Roland Møller (Citadel) and Alba Baptista (Voltron) round out the cast (roles unannounced for now)

The film’s being directed by Panos Cosmatos, who last did Mandy—which should tell you this is likely to be a very trippy, extremely stylish ride, not your typical genre schlock. The script’s from Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en), working off a story he co-wrote with Cosmatos. Oscar Isaac was originally supposedly in the mix for this project with Stewart, but he had to bail thanks to a schedule clash. Definitely curious who Moura’s filling in for.

What They’re Saying

Cosmatos had a typically over-the-top vision statement at Cannes, calling the film:

'Like Los Angeles itself, Flesh of the Gods inhabits the liminal realm between fantasy and nightmare. Both propulsive and hypnotic, Flesh will take you on a hot rod joy ride deep into the glittering heart of hell.'

And producer Adam McKay’s really swinging for the fences hype-wise, talking up the ‘vampires, choice 80s punk, style and attitude for miles’ and saying the team wants to create a movie that ripples through pop culture, fashion, music, and film. Those are big words, but, sure, dream big.

Who’s Backing This Thing?

As shooting gets going, there’s no shortage of companies hitching onto the production. Hyperobject Industries (McKay’s company), Augenschein Filmproduktion, Nevermind Pictures, and XYZ Films are all producing. The money is coming from XYZ and YouRoc, plus IPR.VC and Vixens. When it comes to sales, XYZ handles things internationally, with CAA Media Finance and WME Independent covering US rights. So, plenty of cooks in the kitchen, but that’s basically par for the course on a wild, art-vampire project like this.

Bottom line: Flesh of the Gods is shaping up to be a heady, tricked-out vampire fever dream, with a stacked cast and a director who never met a day-glo nightmare he didn’t like. Keep an eye out—this one sounds too weird to ignore.