One of the most exciting bits of news to come out of Cannes this year is that Miranda July has finally snagged financing for her next fim, Satisfaction. That is, it's exciting if you like Miranda July. The Screengrab is aware that she's got more than her fair share of haters, and to them, this news -- reported in Screen Daily by the wonderfully named Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte -- is likely to be as welcome as the news that there's a new shipment of Lee Press-On Nails down at the chalkboard factory. Whatever the case, Satisfaction -- which will again star the director -- will be a co-production with Film 4, which oversaw the making of Me and You and Everyone We Know, which made such a splash at Cannes in 2005.
For such a widely celebrated young director, July took her time in getting Satisfaction off the ground (or, given its modest box office and critical backlash, maybe the time was taken for her), but she hasn't remained idle in the subsequent three years; in 2007, she published No One Belongs Here More Than You, a highly praised (though equally backlashed) collection of engaging short stories, a few of which are rumored to form the backbone of Satisfaction's multiple narrative of romantic disaffection. She also collaborated on another book of stories, put a few music videos in the can, made a number of short films, and starred in an off-Broadway performance piece titled Things We Don't Know and Are Definitely Not Going to Talk About.
Indeed, regardless of how her next project is received -- and despite all the Haterade passed out at her media ubiquity a few years ago, we're still pretty excited about it -- Miranda July is in no danger of running out of things to do. She's been involved in so many projects in her 34 years, calling her a triple threat is selling her considerably short: in addition to being an acclaimed director, videographer, actress and author, she's also a fashion designer, a visual artist, an essayist, and a recording artist with two albums on the hipster favorite Kill Rock Stars label, and a third rumored to be in the works. She even designed and directed the highly amusing internet ad campaign for No One Belongs Here More Than You. Showing as much promise as she did with her first feature-length movie, we're kind of pulling for her to make it as a director, but with everything else she's got going on, maybe we should just hope she gets a good night's sleep.