Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die, Cannes Film Festival 2019

Stars, ghouls and palm trees: this is what to expect this May as indie auteur Jim Jarmusch's new film The Dead Don't Die is officially opening the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The eyewatering cast includes Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Selena Gomez, Tilda Swinton, Caleb Landry Jones, and, deep breath, Iggy Pop.

The official plot is as follows: 'In the sleepy small town of Centerville, something is not quite right. The moon hangs large and low in the sky, the hours of daylight are becoming unpredictable and animals are beginning to exhibit unusual behaviors. No one quite knows why. News reports are scary and scientists are concerned. But no one foresees the strangest and most dangerous repercussion that will soon start plaguing Centerville: THE DEAD DON’T DIE — they rise from their graves and savagely attack and feast on the living — and the citizens of the town must battle for their survival.'

Jarmusch is no stranger to the Croisette, as his film Stranger Than Paradise won the Caméra d'Or at the festival in 1984. Since then, he's returned to Cannes with Broken Flowers (winner of the Grand Prix in 2005) as well as Only Lovers Left Alive, Ghost Dog, Dead Man, Mystery Train, Down by Law and his most recent film, also starring Adam Driver, Paterson.

The Dead Don't Die offers a change of pace for the festival, following last year's slick but slack opener Everybody Knows. Expect a life-defying, expectation-obliterating good time as the first reactions roll in this May, ahead of a Summer public release on 12 July.