The scoop
Jenna Ortega just landed the lead in Leos Carax’s next movie, Lily May B — and yes, this is the kind of casting that gets cinephiles buzzing. Carax, the French auteur behind wild, gorgeous oddballs like Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, Holy Motors and the award-winning Annette, is back behind the camera and he picked Ortega to front his latest vision.
What Lily May B sounds like
The official logline is wonderfully vague and delightfully strange: three people — a little girl, a woman and a young man — each carrying a secret too heavy to ignore, cross a post-apocalyptic landscape on a huge motorcycle. Think empty cities, abandoned highways and primeval woods, peppered with dangers and odd encounters, all while they hunt for identity and a place to belong.
Why Jenna makes sense (and feels exciting)
Ortega’s been killing it lately — she turned Wednesday into a global moment and has already shown she can balance deadpan humor and spooky vibe. Pairing her intensity and youthful charisma with Carax’s dreamy, off-kilter filmmaking feels like a perfect match: equal parts eerie, emotional and a little bit wild.
Carax’s vibe: dreamlike and mysterious
The director has been teasing the project with short, poetic hints about things that break us and things that keep us alive. A bit of early concept art leans into the same otherworldly, painterly look he’s known for, so expect poetry, surreal images, and scenes that linger in your head long after the credits roll.
Cast, crew and timeline
Producer Hugo Sélignac is attached, and the rest of the cast will be revealed in September — insiders expect some high-profile names to pop up. Shooting is scheduled to start in spring 2027, which means the film will likely land in theaters around 2028. So yes, we’ll be waiting, refreshing the feed, and making wild guesses until then.
Why you should care
Between Carax’s reputation for visually daring cinema and Ortega’s rising star power, Lily May B already feels like a festival favorite-in-waiting. If you like films that are more mood and mystery than straight plot, this one’s probably for you — bring snacks and an open mind.