‘Carmen’ Starring Paul Mescal and Melissa Barrera Gets Theatrical Release From Sony Pictures Classics

Benjamin Millepied’s directorial debut is a modern-day reimagining of the 1875 opera

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"Carmen" / Sony

Benjamin Millepied’s “Carmen” is officially heading to theaters, care of Sony Pictures Classics.

The adaptation of the 1875 Georges Bizet opera and Prosper Mérimée novella of the same name will premiere in Los Angeles and New York on April 21 before expanding in the following weeks.

Fresh off his Oscar nomination for “Aftersun,” Paul Mescal stars alongside “Scream” and “In The Heights” actress Melissa Barrera. The story follows Carmen (Barrera), a fiercely independent woman who flees her home in the Mexican desert after her mother is brutally murdered. She survives a series of dangerous challenges on her way across the U.S. border, including a violent confrontation with a border patrol volunteer that ends with the murders of two other immigrants.

After a violent standoff between the volunteer and his patrol partner Aidan (Mescal), a Marine with PTSD, Carmen and Aidan flee together. Their journey to Los Angeles is a race against love and time as the police close in.

Rossy de Palma, The D.O.C., Benedict Hardie, Richard Brancatisano, and Elsa Pataky also star.

Alexander Dinelaris (“Birdman”), Loïc Barrère, and Millepied wrote the screenplay. Nicholas Britell (“Moonlight,” “If Beale Street Could Talk”) composed the score, and co-wrote original songs and dances with Taura Stinson, The D.O.C., and Julieta Venegas.

The film is produced by Dimitri Rassam, Rosemary Blight and Mimi Valdes. Executive producers are Britell, Tim Lafon, Ben Grant, Kylie du Fresne, Matthieu Prada, Lynn Fainchtein, David Lancaster, Stephanie Wilcox, Helen Estabrook, and Matthew Gledhill.

“Carmen” debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in Sept. 2022.

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