Jack Of Spades | Damien Lewis among the stars in Joel Coen’s period film

Writer-director Joel Coen’s next film is currently filming in Scotland, with Damien Lewis spotted among the period piece’s cast. Having parted ways a few years ago, Joel and Ethan Coen have begun making movies separately – with markedly different results. Ethan Coen’s been making pulpy comedy thrillers – last year’s Drive-Away Dolls and this year’s ... Jack Of Spades | Damien Lewis among the stars in Joel Coen’s period film

Writer-director Joel Coen’s next film is currently filming in Scotland, with Damien Lewis spotted among the period piece’s cast.

Having parted ways a few years ago, Joel and Ethan Coen have begun making movies separately – with markedly different results. Ethan Coen’s been making pulpy comedy thrillers – last year’s Drive-Away Dolls and this year’s Honey, Don’t – in collaboration with his wife Tricia Cooke.

Joel Coen, meanwhile, has made The Tragedy Of Macbeth (2021), starring Denzel Washington, and is now working away on another solo effort, Jack Of Spades. Until recently, little was known about the latter other than that it would star Challengers' Josh O’Connor and was set to begin filming this summer.

Local reporting in Scotland, however, has revealed a few more details about what Joel Coen’s up to. For one thing, it’s clearly a period piece, with locations in Fife and Glasgow dressed to create a 19th century. For another, actor Damien Lewis has been confirmed as a cast member, with The Courier’s on-set photography showing the actor dressed in what is clearly Victorian garb.

Over at The Herald, some on-set photography shows a Glasgow building decorated with some lovely-looking 19th century posters, which have one or two interesting details on closer inspection. They make clear that, unlike most productions that use Glasgow as a stand-in for other cities, Coen’s film will actually be set in Glasgow; there’s a poster for the Britannia Music Hall, for example, which is a real venue there (and still going).

Nothing is known about Jack Of Spades’ story, though World of Reel believes it’s a “gothic mystery” set in the 1880s. Looking again at those posters in Glasgow, it’s possible the film will have some theatrical connection – there are also adverts for what appears to be a play called Lucina, playing at a theatre called The Grand Scotia.

Frances McDormand and Lesley Manville are also among the cast, while Coen regular Carter Burwell will again provide the score.

More on this as we get it.