Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara Shot a Secret Film with Director David Lowery

Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, and David Lowery have reunited in secret this past summer to shoot small indie film in Texas, The Film Stage has confirmed. The acting and directing trio first worked together on the romantic crime drama Ain’t Them Bodies Saints back in 2013. That small film garnered Lowery enough attention to court Disney and nab the helmer spot for this summer’s family hit Pete’s Dragon. Directly after that film wrapped, Lowery flew straight to Texas and began work on this clandestine new film. Speaking to Filmmaker Magazine during press rounds for Pete, Lowery had this to say:

I wanted to make something small and tiny and handmade. I don’t know what it is yet, I’m kind of figuring it out. I had the urge to just go make something spontaneously, like I used to do. I would have an idea and go make it, either a short film or an experimental idea. Over the past few years I stopped doing that as much, and I really wanted to get back in the habit of getting some friends together and shooting something. It’s a good habit to be in as a filmmaker. I basically wrapped [postproduction] on June 10th and the next day flew to Dallas and started working on whatever this thing is that we’re making.

That interview took place back in July, and the film has now come full circle. Affleck, who is gearing up to work with Lowery again on The Old Man and the Gun alongside Robert Redford (and his supposed last role), also recently hinted at the project during rounds for his landmark film Manchester by the Sea. Affleck spoke on DP/30 to break the news.

“I did one this summer, with the same [crew] — it’s me and Rooney [Mara] again, who did Ain’t Them Bodies Saints — and then I’m doing one in a few months, another one with him, also in Dallas.

Although we do not have a name for the project, let alone any plot details, it is still exciting enough to know that this film exists. It is most likely that we will begin to hear a lot more about the project once the 2017 Sundance Film Festival lineup comes out in a month’s time. Until then, audiences can get ready by checking out Lowery’s Pete’s Dragon, Affleck’s Manchester by the Sea, Mara’s Lion, and by revisiting their first collaboration, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints.