Jim Jarmusch’s ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ Set as Cannes Opening Night Film

Adam Driver, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton star in indie director’s zombie comedy

Adam Driver Bill Murray The Dead Don't Die
Focus Features

The 72nd Edition of the Cannes International Film Festival has set its opening night film as Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die.”

Jarmusch’s zombie comedy stars Adam Driver, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton. It will make its world premiere at the festival on Tuesday, May 14 on the screen of the Grand Théâtre Lumière.

“The Dead Don’t Die” will also play in competition for the Palme d’Or.

Read the film’s official description below:

In the sleepy small town of Centerville, something is not quite right. The moon hangs large and low in the sky, the hours of daylight are becoming unpredictable and animals are beginning to exhibit unusual behaviors.  No one quite knows why. News reports are scary and scientists are concerned. But no one foresees the strangest and most dangerous repercussion that will soon start plaguing Centerville: THE DEAD DON’T DIE – they rise from their graves and savagely attack and feast on the living – and the citizens of the town must battle for their survival.

The independent filmmaker’s newest foray into genre film (after the western with “Dead Man,” Samurai-crime film with “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai,” and his vampire film “Only Lovers Left Alive”) promises to be “the greatest zombie cast ever disassembled.”

Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Selena Gomez, RZA, Sara Driver, Austin Butler, Luka Sabbat, Eszter Balint, Carol Kane and Tom Waits also star.

“The Dead Don’t Die” also reunites Jarmusch with many of his frequent collaborators including director of photography Frederick Elmes and editor Affonso Gonçalves. “The Dead Don’t Die” is Jim Jarmusch’s 13th feature film and stands as not just a humorous and sometimes scary subversion of the genre (with a nod to George Romero’s seminal film, “Night of the Living Dead”) but also a tribute to cinema itself.

Jarmusch’s first film “Stranger Than Paradise” won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 1984, and he’s since won four awards at the festival for his “elegant, rock and roll cinema, often presenting an alternative America.” Jarmusch last attended Cannes in 2016 with two films, “Paterson,” which also starred Adam Driver, and “Gimme Danger,” a music documentary on Iggy and the Stooges, which played in the midnight screenings.

“The Dead Don’t Die” is a Focus Features presentation produced by Joshua Astrachan and Carter Logan. It will be distributed by Focus Features and Universal Pictures International around the world, as well as alongside Longride in Japan.

The film will be released in France on the same day as its Cannes screening on May 14, and it will open in the U.S. on June 14.

The Opening Ceremony of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival will take place on May 14. It will be broadcast free-to-air by Canal +, as well as in partner cinemas. Actor and director Edouard Baer will be the Master of Ceremonies.

The Competition Jury, chaired by Alejandro González Iñárritu, will present the Palme d’Or at the Closing ceremony on Saturday May 25.

The line-up of the Official Selection will be announced on Thursday, April 18.

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