Every time Hirokazu Kore-eda has worked outside Japan, he has done it on his own script and with an established star at the center. Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche anchored The Truth in France, Song Kang-ho led Broker in South Korea, and Eddie Redmayne is attached to headline the director’s first English-language film for Searchlight Pictures. At the Busan International Film Festival, Kore-eda made clear that the American chapter still exists mostly on the page.

As Variety reported from the festival’s press conference for his manga adaptation Look Back, the filmmaker said the Searchlight project remains at the screenplay stage. “Right now, I am writing the script,” he said. “I cannot share specific plot details at this stage, but preparations are progressing smoothly. Please look forward to it.” He did not reveal a title, said he expects to present the film formally next year at the earliest, and added that he hopes to bring it to Busan as well.

When the pairing was first announced, Redmayne was set to star and to produce alongside Jonathan King and Ash Sarohia, with no story details released. For the actor, who won the Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything and was nominated again for The Danish Girl, it is a collaboration with the director whose Shoplifters won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. For Disney’s specialty label, it is an auteur project built around a writer-director whose features so far have been in Japanese, French and Korean.

Busan is a natural stage for the update. The festival has kept inviting Kore-eda back since his debut, and this year’s opening ceremony featured a piece of music named after him. “It is a city and a film festival for which I have exceptionally strong feelings,” he said. Look Back, adapted from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s one-shot manga and starring Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita, plays the Gala Presentation section after its competition premiere at Venice. Kore-eda pushed to shoot it on 35mm across all four seasons, arguing that the absence of a “we can fix it later” mindset “creates a healthy tension for the cast and crew.”

The calendar has moved. The February announcement pointed to production starting later in 2026 and a festival world premiere in 2027; nearly eight months later, the director is still writing. His year has been crowded with two other films: Sheep in the Box, acquired by Neon for the United States, and Look Back, released in Japan by K2 Pictures on September 11 and headed to GKIDS in North America, the UK and Ireland.

Searchlight has an Oscar winner, a Palme d’Or winner and no title yet. Busan, the festival that has kept calling Kore-eda back, already has his word that he wants to return with it.

Tags: Hirokazu Kore-eda, Eddie Redmayne, Busan International Film Festival, Look Back, screenplay, Searchlight Pictures