An early summer afternoon in the house in Chicago. I’m ten years old. The sky is very dark. A thunderstorm. I’m sitting on the floor in my room, the cool tiles. The rain comes, at first very hard, then soft. I’m playing a game by myself. Nobody else is around, except, perhaps, my mother, in another part of the house. There is and will be for a while nothing to disturb me. This is my most beloved childhood memory, an absolutely inviolable moment, totally devoid of difficulty.

This is an excerpt from Barry Gifford’s story “Renoir’s Chemin montant dans les hautes herbes.” His extraordinary language is at the heart of my newest film Roy’s World: Barry Gifford’s Chicago. It deserves nothing less than the very best. So I’m thrilled (and not a little bit astonished) to announce that Matt Dillon and Willem Dafoe are providing their storytelling gifts for the film.

Both are huge devotees of his work; Matt directed his feature filmmaking debut City of Ghosts from a screenplay co-written with Gifford, while Willem, of course, is unforgettable as the dentally challenged Bobby Peru in David Lynch’s adaptation of Wild at Heart. They’ll both serve as narrators for Roy’s World, performing selected stories on the soundtrack in conjunction with Jason Adasiewicz’s music. I’m beyond excited to have them on board!