Ayo Edebiri & John Malkovich To Topline A24 Horror ‘Opus’; Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder & Others Also Aboard, With Juliette Lewis In Talks

EXCLUSIVE: Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) and John Malkovich (Billions) are set to star in Opus, a horror pic marking the first feature of writer-director Mark Anthony Green, which will be financed and produced by A24.

Additional cast set for the film, which has received an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA to continue production, includes The White Lotus Emmy winner Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder (Prey), Stephanie Suganami (Power Book II: Ghost), Emmy nominee Young Mazino (Beef), and Tatanka Means (Killers of the Flower Moon). Then, there’s Juliette Lewis, the Academy Award nominee and Emmy winner currently starring on Showtime’s Yellowjackets, who is in talks for a role, as well.

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While specifics as to its plot are under wraps, the film to be released globally by A24 is said to center on an iconic pop star’s return following his decades-long disappearance. Producers will include Collin Creighton and Brad Weston for Makeready, Poppy Hanks and Jelani Johnson for Macro Film Studios, and Josh Bachove. Macro’s Charles D. King will exec produce alongside Sara Newkirk Simon. Additional EPs include musical artists The-Dream and Nile Rodgers, who will also pen original songs for the film, on the heels of a recent Grammy win for their first collaboration on Beyonce’s “Cuff It.”

A writer, producer, actor and comedian who has emerged as one of today’s buzziest performers, Edebiri is coming off an Emmy nomination for The Bear, the beloved culinary-world FX series recently renewed for a third season, in which she stars opposite Jeremy Allen White. Also recently starring in Emma Seligman’s hit comedy Bottoms from MGM’s Orion Pictures and Brownstone Productions, Edebiri’s other recent credits include Searchlight Pictures’ Theater Camp and Paramount/Point Grey’s Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which had her voicing the role of April O’Neill. Up next for her is Thunderbolts, the film that will mark her introduction to the MCU.

Appearing across several seasons of Showtime’s high-stakes finance drama Billions, Malkovich has also been seen of late in the Tribeca-premiering Alex Wolff drama The Line and Charlie Day’s directorial debut Fool’s Paradise. Other recent credits for the Emmy winner and 2x Oscar nom include HBO’s The New Pope from creator Paolo Sorrentino, as well as the films Velvet Buzzsaw, Bird Box, and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

A writer, director, and veteran of the fashion world, Green previously helmed the comedy short Trapeze, U.S.A., which won awards at festivals like Hollyshorts. He also recently served as the Special Projects Director at GQ Magazine, making him one of the magazine’s leading fashion and culture voices.

Edebiri is represented by CAA, Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, Range Media Partners, and Del Shaw Moonves; Malkovich by WME; Bartlett by WME, Anonymous Content, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; Midthunder by CAA, Corner Booth Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Suganami by Silver Lining Entertainment; Mazino by UTA, M88 and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Means by AEFH and The O’ Agency; Lewis by UTA and Untitled Entertainment; and Green by CAA and Granderson Des Rocher.

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