Anthony Chen Is Now In Greece Directing Drift, His English-Languge Debut Starring Oscar Nominee Cynthia Erivo And Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat

Ilo Ilo’s Golden Horse Award and Caméra d'Or winning Singaporean director Anthony Chen is currently in Greece making his English-language debut Drift, with Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo (Harriet, Bad Times at the El Royale) and Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development, Search Party).

Based on Alexander Maksik’s 2013 novel A Marker to Measure Drift, Drift follows a young Liberian refugee named Jacqueline (Erivo) who has barely escaped her war-torn country to a Greek island. She offers massages to tourists in exchange for one or two euros to battle her hunger, while her daily struggle for survival keeps the memories that haunt her at bay. She meets an unmoored tour guide (Shawkat) and the two become close as they each find hope in the other.

The film reunites Call Me By Your Name producers Emilie Georges and Peter Spears and exec producer Naima Abed; Spears won the Best Picture Oscar last year for Nomadland.

The London-based Chen has a busy slate this year. He recently wrapped his mainland Chinese drama The Breaking Ice starring Zhou Dongyu and is slated to direct Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sienna Miller in Amazon’s The Secret Daughter, which as it turns out, isn’t the English-language debut we previously reported. Last year, Chen was among the directors behind the COVID-19-themed anthology The Year of the Everlasting Storm.

Elsewhere, closer to home, Chen is set to team up with Ilo Ilo and Wet Season actors Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jialer on We Are All Strangers, the third chapter in his ‘Growing Up’ trilogy, which started with 2013’s Ilo Ilo, followed by 2019’s Wet Season. Chen’s Giraffe Pictures shingle also has Ajoomma, a Korean-Singaporean joint production directed by He Shuming and starring Hong Huifang, Jung Dong-Hwan (Hotel del Luna), Yeo Jin-Goo (Beyond Evil), and Kang Hyung Suk (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha).

Photos: TPG News/Click Photos