Olivier Assayas to Write/Direct Cuban Spy Thriller ‘Wasp Network’

Olivier Assayas, the filmmaker behind the last two Kristen Stewart indie triumphs, Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper, is back on the scene with Wasp Network. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the French auteur will be both writing and directing the project for RT Features and CG Cinema.

The story will be adapted from Fernando Morais’ book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War and will tell the true story of the Cuban spies in America during the 1900s who unveiled expansive the terrorist network implanted within Florida. Published in 2015, the story is being unearthed at a timely moment with Cuba-U.S. relations recently changing in major ways. The film will also shed rare light on the community of Cuban exiles living in Florida, then and now.

RT Features recently produced the two Sundance breakouts Call Me by Your Name, by Luca Guadagnino, and Geremy Jasper’s Patti Cake$.

Assayas last output was the Kristen Stewart-starrer Personal Shopper, which met an emotive audience reception at last year’s Cannes, and went on to top the indie box office earlier this year. The film earned him the festival’s Best Director accolade. Next he will be directing Robert Pattinson, Rachel Weisz, and Sylvester Stallone in Idol’s Eye, a mob thriller.