‘American History X’ Director Tony Kaye Takes On Leicester’s Giant Monsters in Short ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Tony Kaye, the British director of “American History X” and “Detachment,” will direct “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?,” a short running five minutes that blends documentary with reality drama and plays out among the giant monster sculptures installed across Leicester, England. Hiu Man Chan, a film entrepreneur and academic in creative industries at De Montfort University, is producing. The project will pair Kaye with up-and-coming actors and filmmakers from the university and Leicester’s wider creative scene, and the production is taking an experimental, collaborative route. The narrative will take shape around the chosen cast and participants, with the camera catching chance encounters and real human experiences as the film asks whether people can come to understand and love each other across their differences. The shoot commences on Friday. Louis Lingjaerde (“Vipers”) is the cinematographer. The short will take its setting from Leicester Monsters, a downtown program run by BID Leicester that has placed oversized creatures on the city’s streets and in its public spaces to coax visitors into exploring the center. Bristol-based Designs in Air installed the monsters. “Forty years ago, I made a commercial for solid fuel in which a dog, a cat and a mouse kissed each other in front of a real coal fire, to the music of ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.’ I’ve never forgotten that image,” Kaye said. “Now, with the Leicester Monsters movie, I find myself returning to the same idea. Perhaps the universe is the real coal fire, and we are all just animals gathered around it, trying to work out how to love one another. The question is as simple as it is impossible: how can we all get along, forever?” Leicester is often described as one of the most diverse cities in the U.K. The film will use that mix, with giant creatures popping up around town as a surreal backdrop, to probe the pull between difference and belonging, and between freedom and commitment. “I am passionate about the most important human feeling – love – in storytelling, as well as packaging unique projects like this to challenge conventional filmmaking. I look forward to this creative journey with Tony, one of Britain’s greatest talents, and to put the city of Leicester in motion,” Chan said. Kaye’s first feature, 1998’s “American History X,” tackled racism and redemption and earned Edward Norton an Oscar nomination for best actor. His 2011 film “Detachment,” starring Adrien Brody, took two prizes at the Deauville American Film Festival – the Critics’ Award and the Revelation Prize – and won the Tokyo International Film Festival’s Best Artistic Contribution Award. He also directed the 2006 documentary “Lake of Fire.” The release of “American History X” was famously fraught. Kaye fell out with New Line Cinema and Norton over the edit, and the version that reached theaters, which Norton had a hand in cutting, ran longer than Kaye’s original 95-minute cut. Kaye spent around $100,000 on dozens of ads in the Hollywood trades, Variety among them, some of which attacked Norton and the studio. The Directors Guild of America turned down his request to swap his directing credit for a pseudonym, among them “Humpty Dumpty.” Kaye later sued the guild and New Line for $200 million, a case that was dismissed in 2000. Kaye returned to the saga in “Humpty Dumpty X,” a 74-minute documentary built from camcorder footage he shot during the dispute, including phone calls with studio executives. The film, which also features Marlon Brando, world premiered in the Spotlight Documentary section of this year’s Tribeca Festival. Outside of features, Kaye built a reputation in music videos and commercials. His ad work spans Nike’s “Kick It,” Volvo’s “Twister,” Dunlop’s “Tested for the Unexpected,” a run of InterCity campaigns for British Rail and the “Furry Friends” spot for solid fuel.