After helming shows such as Copenhagen Cowboy and Too Old to Die Young, Nicolas Winding Refn gets ready to make a comeback to feature-length filmmaking with an English-Japanese production. In an exclusive conversation with Variety, Refn said that the film would go on floors in Tokyo next year. It would be his first feature film after The Neon Demon (2016).

The Danish filmmaker, best known for 2011's Ryan Gosling-Carey Mulligan-Bryan Cranston starrer Drive, is at the Venice Film Festival for the premiere of his short film Beauty is Not a Sin.

The filmmaker once thought "cinema is dead," but he now regards a return to filmmaking as a deed of "defiance".

“It’s a really interesting time to make movies because it’s such a chaotic situation,” Refn stated. “So going back and making a theatrical feature film again is almost like—not starting over—but with all the changes in our societies in the last five years and technology changes, it almost seems like the right thing to do for me.”

Describing feature film as "the mother of all mediums," Refn added that he is excited about experiencing the process again. Refn also said that an original story would form the basis of his next film, and he promised that there would be "a lot of glitter and sex and violence” in it.

Refn is working on a couple more projects as well, including one associated with gaming. Describing gaming as “the only art form that continues to evolve with possibilities creatively," the filmmaker said that he is “fascinated by what the technology can provide."