Whiplash and Babylon director Damien Chazelle’s prison drama, with Michelle Williams and Daniel Craig among the cast, has finished filming in Greece. Update: Following a 45-day shoot, Damien Chazelle’s untitled prison drama, starring Cillian Murphy, Daniel Craig and Michelle Williams, has finished filming in Greece. It’s Chazelle’s first film since the commercial disappointment of Babylon, ... Damien Chazelle’s untitled prison drama wraps filming in Greece
Whiplash and Babylon director Damien Chazelle’s prison drama, with Michelle Williams and Daniel Craig among the cast, has finished filming in Greece.
Update: Following a 45-day shoot, Damien Chazelle’s untitled prison drama, starring Cillian Murphy, Daniel Craig and Michelle Williams, has finished filming in Greece. It’s Chazelle’s first film since the commercial disappointment of Babylon, the filmmaker’s sumptuous, saucy account of ambition and hedonism in early Hollywood.
His prison drama is a more contained affair (what with all those bars and wardens), and while there isn’t much information to go on at present, it sounds like a gritty battle of wits. Here’s the synopsis shared in March by World of Reel:
A prison warden (Craig) attempts to discipline a defiant inmate (Murphy) within a brutal correctional system. As tensions rise, their relationship evolves into a psychological duel. Williams portrays the warden’s wife. Mia Threapleton plays the inmate’s girlfriend.
The above-linked outlet also reports that, with shooting complete, the production will be preparing for a premiere in 2027 – possibly under the title Sacrifice. We’ve previously mulled over the synopsis’ apparent similarity to the old Sylvester Stallone prison flick, Lock Up, also about a psychological war between a brutal warden and his defiant inmate.
Whatever it ends up being called, we’re hoping it’s a success for Chazelle. First, because he’s a great director, and second, it might give him the chance to make his period drama/biopic about hapless stunt rider, Evel Knievel.
We’ll bring you more on all this as we get it.
Our previous story follows…
18th March 2026: Whiplash director Damien Chazelle has finally begun filming on his first project since 2022’s historical La-La land epic, Babylon. It’s the prison drama that he’s been developing over the past couple of years or so, and a project which is taking him many miles from his usual Hollywood stomping ground.
Starring Cillian Murphy, Daniel Craig and Michelle Williams among others, the untitled film is currently being shot in Greece. Ekathimeri reported in January that filming would begin in the middle of this month and end in May, with locations including Athens and Corfu. Both lovely places to visit at this time of year.
World of Reel now writes that Chazelle has taken over a former tobacco-processing factory in Athens, which has been turned into the prison in which much of the film will take place.
So is it a prison break film, like Escape From Alcatraz or The Shawshank Redemption? A gritty drama, like Starred Up? A comedy like, er, Porridge? We’ll have to wait and see.
Our previous story follows…
14th January 2026: Over the past year or so, director Damien Chazelle has been quietly developing two projects – one about the accident-prone stunt rider Evel Knievel, the other said to be a prison drama.
For now, it looks as though the prison drama is going to emerge first, with Chazelle having secured two big name stars – Cillian Murphy and Daniel Craig – and production set to begin this year.
According to Deadline, Michelle Williams has joined the cast, having read the script and signed no the dotted line shortly before Christmas. The star of such emotional dramas as Blue Valentine, Manchester By The Sea and, er, Species, Williams recently won a deserved Golden Globe for her performance in TV’s Dying For Sex.
Over the course of a glittering career, Williams has worked with such respected filmmakers as Ridley Scott, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg. It sounds as though she could be about to add another Oscar-winning director to that list of collaborators; all four of Chazelle’s films so far – Whiplash, La La Land, First Man and Babylon – have been nominated for Academy Awards so far.
Little is known about Chazelle’s latest film; it’s currently untitled, and even the prison setting hasn’t been definitively confirmed. Expect more details to emerge in the coming months, assuming it all remains on track; if it does, Paramount Pictures will eventually distribute. Chazelle will write as well as direct.
The critical and financial disappointment of 2022’s Babylon is widely thought to have taken the wind out of Chazelle’s sails somewhat (please replace with your own favourite cliche). We’d humbly suggest that Babylon is far better than its detractors would have the planet believe, and that its true brilliance will become increasingly clear over time; a profane yet strangely warm-hearted look at early Hollywood decadence, it’s essentially an $80m cult film in the making – elephant dung and all.
More on Chazelle’s potential Porridge film spin-off as we get it.
