Nathan Silver Chooses A Poet Remake as His Next Film Project

      During our conversation with Nathan Silver in December, he was clear about having his follow-up to *Between the Temples*—one of the standout films of 2024—prepared. At that time, we had heard a great deal (and offered significant praise) for Simón Mesa Soto’s *A Poet*, which recently premiered in U.S. theaters through 1-2 Special. Thus, it seems this news was right in front of us all along: Deadline has reported that Silver’s upcoming feature will be an English-language remake set in upstate New York, co-written with his frequent collaborator Chris “C. Mason” Wells and produced by Saïd Ben Saïd. Filming is anticipated to begin this fall.

      The narrative of *A Poet* shares similarities with Silver and Wells’ previous project, centering on a middle-aged man grappling with depression who finds comfort in mentoring a much younger female student—a contrast to the dynamic between Carol Kane and Jason Schwartzman in *Temples*. (The former could very well suit the lead role in this new project, not least due to his resemblance to a man named Oscar.) Silver has openly discussed how his mother's experiences inspired *Temples*; continuing the theme of drawing from personal experience, he mentioned to Deadline that he “can relate all too well to a story of struggling to achieve artistic recognition, financial stability, and discovering poetry in everyday life.” Concurrently, Wells indicates that their version of *A Poet* will serve as an “American cover version—presenting it in a new language and sound but with the same irresistible melody.”

      Even if both projects were entirely distinct and had no narrative overlap, one could still envision their creative sensibilities aligning with Soto’s. As we remarked in our review last year, *A Poet* represents “the kind of ruthless character study [that] may test the patience of anyone questioning the purpose of watching this unfortunate character sink deeper into his self-inflicted predicament, and certain parts illustrate slightly extended repetitions of prior elements. Yet much like the Coens did with Larry Gopnik nearly fifteen years ago, we have another contemporary retelling of the Book of Job that uncovers an absurdly comedic aspect to such tribulations.”