Anya Taylor-Joy And Ralph Fiennes To Headline Searchlight’s ‘The Menu’

Justin Kroll
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Following her acclaimed role in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, Anya Taylor-Joy looks to have found her next feature film. She is in negotiations to star in Searchlight’s dark comedy The Menu, with Ralph Fiennes recently closing a deal to also star. Mark Mylod, who has played a major part in the success of HBO’s Succession, will direct. Adam McKay will produce through his Hyperobject Industries banner along with Betsy Koch.

The film is a darkly comedic psychological thriller set in the world of eccentric culinary culture, centering on a young couple who visit an exclusive restaurant on a remote island where an acclaimed chef has prepared a lavish tasting menu. Taylor-Joy will play one half of the couple. Fiennes is playing the chef.

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Will Tracy and Seth Reiss penned the script. Searchlight’s SVP Production DanTram Nguyen and director of production Zahra Phillips will oversee for the studio.

Best known for his roles in Schindler’s List, Quiz Show and the Harry Potter franchise as the infamous Voldemort, Fiennes has had busy dance card as of late starting with the Netflix drama The Dig, which bowed in January. He follows that up returning as M in the next James Bond pic No Time to Die and is also set to star in the Kingsman prequel The King’s Man.

After her breakout role in Robert Eggers’ The Witch, Taylor-Joy has been rising through the ranks and was handpicked to star in the M. Night Shyamalan thriller Split and its sequel Glass. She became one of the big winners of 2021 when her Netflix limited series Queen’s Gambit, about a chess prodigy in the 1960s, became one of the streamers biggest hits of 2020. She was also recently seen in the Focus Features pic Emma.

She has a busy 2021 ahead of her with starring roles in the Viking drama The Northman, the untitled David O. Russell pic and Edgar Wright’s Last Night In Soho. She was also tapped to star in the Mad Max spinoff Furiosa in the title role.

Fiennes and Taylor-Joy are repped by CAA. Taylor-Joy is also repped by United Agents and Felker Toczek Suddleson and Abramson and Fiennes is also repped by Dalzell and Beresford. Tracy is repped by WME and Melissa Fox at Hansen and McKay is repped by WME and Ziffren Brittenham.

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