Alexander Skarsgård, Hunter Schafer, Maya Hawke, Harry Melling to Star in ‘The Confessions,’ With Ari Aster Producing (EXCLUSIVE)

Alexander Skarsgård (“Wicker”), Hunter Schafer (“Blade Runner 2099”), Maya Hawke (“Stranger Things”) and Harry Melling (“Pillion”) are set to star in “The Confessions,” the latest feature from Canadian filmmaking trio Guy Maddin, Galen Johnson and Evan Johnson, with Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen’s Square Peg producing.

The project, which marks the trio’s follow-up to their Cannes-premiering political satire “Rumours,” is being launched at the AFM by CAA Media Finance and WME Independent, which are co-representing North American rights, and French sales company Charades, which is handling international sales.

Described as a cautionary psycho-dramedy, “The Confessions” follows a group of condemned nuns bearing witness to the accursed, globe-spanning love triangle of a missing sea captain and his poet wife.

The film reunites Maddin and the Johnson brothers with Square Peg, which boarded the project in early development after collaborating with the filmmakers on “Rumours,” which premiered out of competition at Cannes in 2024. Daniel Bekerman’s Scythia Films has also joined the project.

“The Confessions” is produced by Square Peg in the U.S., Scythia Films and Galen Johnson, Evan Johnson and Fritzi Adelman’s Thin Stuff in Canada, with the support of Telefilm Canada.

Square Peg’s credits include “Bugonia,” “Midsommar” and “The Drama,” while Scythia Films is behind “The Witch,” “The Apprentice” and “Falling.” Thin Stuff’s credits include “Rumours,” “A.Rimbaud” and “Strong Son.”

“I have long been a devoted fan of the great Canadian wizard, Guy Maddin, and his equally brilliant partners, Evan and Galen Johnson,” said Aster. “They stand humongously tall among my favorite filmmakers in the world, and The Confessions is as singular and beguiling as anything they’ve ever written.”

Known for their surrealist, genre-bending storytelling, Maddin and the Johnson brothers made their first feature together with “Rumours,” an absurdist political comedy starring Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander and Charles Dance that follows world leaders who become lost in the woods during a G7 summit.

“Behold, I will do a new thing! Now it shall spring forth!” So sayeth the Bible. (Isaiah 43:19) But our film, part religio-maritime rough-music psychomachy, part hallucinated saltwater shaming parade, has Alex, Hunter, Harry, and Maya on its side, in its belly, so we are already several steps ahead of the Bible. Behold!,” said the filmmaker in an eccentric statement.

Elevation Pictures will distribute “The Confessions” in Canada.