EXCLUSIVE: Abel Ferrara and screenwriter Christ Zois are indeed working on a feature script partly inspired by this summer’s sex scandal surrounding former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Wild Bunch’s Vincent Maraval has confirmed it. Gérard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani are circling characters based on the scandal-plagued former IMF chief and his wife Anne Sinclair. They’ve met with the director. But Maraval says the project is still a long way from active development.

The idea for a film came about on a lark when Ferrara was making 4:44 Last Day On Earth with Wild Bunch earlier this year. Per Maraval, it was suggested that the DSK sex scandal would be a good fit for Ferrara given the filmmaker’s penchant for themes of addiction. Maraval says Ferrara and sometime collaborator Zois are now writing a script which could include elements inspired by the lives of other politicians like Bill Clinton and Silvio Berlusconi along with Strauss-Kahn. But, despite earlier reports in the French press, he stresses it’s too early to say anything definitively. “One thing we do know is that there’s a real common desire amongst Depardieu, Adjani and Ferrara to work together. But like every day in this business, we have to see if there’s a film there. Today, the only reality is that they are writing something inspired by Strauss-Kahn that will focus on addiction and politicians. It’s more that than the Strauss-Kahn scandal itself,” says Maraval noting, “If it becomes a serious thing, I’m not even sure it will be the same film with Adjani and Depardieu.” Finally, he adds, “If we feel there’s a movie, we’ll go further.” Queried about the project in an interview published in France’s Le Journal Du Dimanche yesterday, Depardieu declined to comment on rumors but offered, “In general, I’m very good at playing characters that I don’t like or those that I don’t resemble.”