EXCLUSIVE: Deadline can reveal the first trailer for Luc Besson’s new feature Dogman amid growing expectations that the film will world premiere on the fall festival circuit.
Billed as the incredible story of a child, bruised by life, who finds his salvation through the love of his dogs, the feature marks Besson’s first film in the director’s chair since 2019 assassin thriller Anna.
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Caleb Landry Jones, who won Best Actor at Cannes in 2021 for his performance Justin Kurzel’s Nitram, stars as its fragile yet resilient protagonist who bends societal rules as he makes his own way.
The trailer sets the scene showing the protagonist being abused as a child by his violent father over his love of dogs, catching up with him later in life as he plays with his identity and appearance.
“I’ve always liked disguises. That’s what you do when you don’t really know who you are, right?,” he says, as his persona is revealed in between flashbacks. “You dress up, you make up a past, and you forget your own.”
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The trailer suggests a film with an edgy, indie feel reminiscent of Besson’s debut feature Subway and other early works such as The Big Blue, La Femme Nikita and Leon.
Besson also wrote the feature and produced under his LBP (Luc Besson Production) banner in co-production with EuropaCorp, the company he founded and is now majority-owned by U.S. asset management firm Vine Alternative Investments Group.
Grégoire Melin’s Paris-based company Kinology handles international markets and has already sold the film into a slew of markets.
François Clerc’s Apollo Films will release the film in France on September 27. A number of international distributors are expected to launch the film in their respective territories on that date too.
Dogman had originally been set for an April 19 release in France until positive buyer and festival reaction to the film following a market screening in Berlin prompted a rethink of the launch strategy.
