Jerzy Skolimowski Returns — Aging Auteur, Controversial Star, and a Story from Auschwitz

At 87, Jerzy Skolimowski is showing no signs of slowing down. The legendary Polish director, best known for Deep End, The Shout, and more recently EO — his Cannes-lauded, genre-defying tale of a donkey’s odyssey — is preparing to embark on an ambitious new feature. Titled Angel of Death, the film explores one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century and will star none other than Shia LaBeouf, who also penned the screenplay.

The project, currently being pitched to the Polish Film Institute for financing, centres on Dr. Miklos Nyiszli, a Hungarian Jewish pathologist forced to work under Josef Mengele in Auschwitz. Based on real events, the story follows Nyiszli’s harrowing moral struggle to retain his humanity while surviving the unimaginable. Skolimowski will direct and produce the film through his Skopia Film banner.

It’s a surprising creative pairing: a revered European auteur and a Hollywood actor known as much for off-screen controversy as for on-screen intensity. Still, there’s reason to be curious. LaBeouf is coming off a minimalist indie with David Mamet, and Skolimowski — whose recent work has drawn praise in publications like Cahiers du cinéma — is arguably in the midst of a late-career renaissance. If all goes to plan, Angel of Death could begin shooting as early as this autumn.

And yes, Cannes watchers may want to keep an eye on this one. After all, Skolimowski’s EO proved that even at nearly 90, his filmmaking instincts remain anything but safe. Pairing raw subject matter with unexpected collaborators may just be the kind of high-wire act that keeps him — and us — on edge.