George Miller’s THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING Opens At The 2022 Cannes Film Festival – Watch The Trailer Starring Tilda Swinton And Idris Elba As The Djinn

Here’s a look at the full trailer for THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING. From director George Miller (BABE, HAPPY FEET, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD and the soon-to-shoot prequel, Furiosa), the movie screened at the 75th Cannes Film Festival out of competition and was met with a six minute standing ovation.

Dr Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic – content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.

This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.

Written by George Miller and Augusta Gore, THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING is based on the short story “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” by A.S. Byatt.

THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING opens in theaters August 31st.

Miller first encountered the short story in the late 1990s. “It’s a story that seemed to probe many of the mysteries and paradoxes of life, and so succinctly” Miller recalls. “Once read it stayed with me, as some stories tend to do…then, one day it occurred to me that it should be a film.”

“It felt unique, something that you couldn’t quite fit into any genre and it ticked one very important box – there must be a whole lot more to it than meets the eye. There are stories within stories, a little like One Thousand and One Nights” says Miller.

Check out what Swinton and Miller had to say about their first meeting.

Reviews for Miller’s latest movie:

Indiewire says “Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba conjure all sorts of magical chemistry in George Miller’s bombastic modern fairy tale.”

Deadline says, “the work of longtime Miller cinematographer John Seale represents yet another reason to see this on the big screen.”

Variety says, “Whether or not Miller’s aesthetic is for you, it’s basically his brand to reject what more traditional filmmakers think of as “good taste.” He’s one of an odd group of ’80s schlock filmmakers who hit the big time — a class that includes “Dead Alive” auteur Peter Jackson and “Evil Dead’s” Sam Raimi — expanding their vision to ever greater budget while sticking to the trick shots and gonzo stunts that betray their B-movie roots.”