Tony Kaye is set to direct “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?,” a five-minute short that will combine documentary techniques with reality drama against the surreal backdrop of giant monster sculptures in Leicester, England.

Production is scheduled to begin Friday, with Louis Lingjaerde, whose credits include “Vipers,” serving as cinematographer. Film entrepreneur and De Montfort University creative industries academic Hiu Man Chan is producing.

The experimental project will bring Kaye together with emerging actors and filmmakers from the university and Leicester’s broader creative community. Rather than imposing a fully predetermined narrative, the production will shape its story around the people selected to participate, capturing chance meetings and real experiences as they unfold.

At the center of the short is a deceptively large question: whether people can understand and love one another despite their differences. Its themes will include the tensions between difference and belonging, as well as freedom and commitment.

Monsters Take Over the Backdrop

The production will make use of Leicester Monsters, a downtown initiative operated by BID Leicester. The program has installed oversized creatures on streets and in public areas, encouraging visitors to explore the city center. The sculptures were installed by Bristol-based Designs in Air.

Leicester, often characterized as one of the U.K.’s most diverse cities, will supply the human landscape for the film. Its mix of people and communities will be placed alongside the giant creatures appearing around the city, giving Kaye’s exploration of love and coexistence an intentionally unusual visual setting.

The title also connects the filmmaker to an image he created four decades ago. Kaye recalled directing a solid-fuel commercial in which a dog, cat and mouse kissed beside a real coal fire while “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” played.

“I’ve never forgotten that image,” Kaye said. “Now, with the Leicester Monsters movie, I find myself returning to the same idea. Perhaps the universe is the real coal fire, and we are all just animals gathered around it, trying to work out how to love one another.”

He framed the film’s central concern with another question: “How can we all get along, forever?”

Chan said the project reflects his interest in making love central to storytelling while assembling unconventional productions that challenge established filmmaking methods. He also expressed enthusiasm about working with Kaye and putting Leicester on screen.

Kaye’s Career Comes Full Circle

Kaye’s first feature was 1998’s “American History X,” a drama about racism and redemption that brought Edward Norton an Oscar nomination for best actor. Kaye later directed the 2006 documentary “Lake of Fire” and the 2011 film “Detachment,” starring Adrien Brody.

“Detachment” received the Critics’ Award and Revelation Prize at the Deauville American Film Festival, along with the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Beyond feature filmmaking, Kaye established a body of work in commercials and music videos. His advertising credits include Nike’s “Kick It,” Volvo’s “Twister,” Dunlop’s “Tested for the Unexpected,” multiple InterCity campaigns for British Rail and the solid-fuel spot “Furry Friends.” That earlier commercial now provides a creative link to “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”

His history with “American History X” has also returned to the screen. Kaye clashed with New Line Cinema and Norton over the movie’s editing, and the theatrical version—which Norton helped cut—was longer than Kaye’s original 95-minute edit.

During the dispute, Kaye spent approximately $100,000 on dozens of advertisements in Hollywood trade publications, with some attacking Norton and the studio. The Directors Guild of America rejected his effort to replace his directing credit with a pseudonym, including the proposed name “Humpty Dumpty.” He subsequently sued the guild and New Line for $200 million, but the case was dismissed in 2000.

Kaye revisited that battle in “Humpty Dumpty X,” a 74-minute documentary assembled from camcorder material he recorded during the dispute, including calls with studio executives. The film, which also features Marlon Brando, world premiered in the Spotlight Documentary section of this year’s Tribeca Festival.

ShowBiz Take

“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” may be only five minutes long, but its format gives Kaye room to unite several strands of his work: commercial imagery, documentary observation and dramatic storytelling. The Leicester Monsters installation is more than eye-catching scenery; it creates a heightened environment for a film concerned with how people respond to difference.

The decision to build the narrative around its cast and spontaneous interactions also makes the production’s collaborative process central to the finished work. By pairing Kaye with university participants and members of Leicester’s creative scene, the short will draw directly from the city it intends to portray.

What Happens Next?

Filming is due to begin Friday. Because the story will develop around selected participants and unscripted encounters, the precise shape of the completed short will emerge through that production process.