Luca Guadagnino to Direct Julia Roberts in Thriller ‘After the Hunt’ for Amazon MGM and Imagine

Brian Welk
·2 min read

Luca Guadagnino is set to direct Julia Roberts in a dramatic thriller called “After the Hunt” that has landed at Amazon MGM Studios, an individual with knowledge of the project told IndieWire.

Imagine Entertainment had the rights to the film package and script from writer Nora Garrett, and the project has now landed with Amazon MGM after it attracted a lot of interest around town as a hot spec script. Producer Allan Mandelbaum brought the script into Imagine and worked with CAA to get it to both Guadagnino and Roberts.

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“After the Hunt” is described as an intense dramatic thriller about a college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues, and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.

No word on release date or whether the film will be Guadagnino’s next project to shoot, or if Amazon MGM intends to release “After the Hunt” as a streaming or theatrical title.

Brian Grazer is producing alongside Mandelbaum for Imagine. Guadagnino is also producing the film for his banner Frenesy. Executive producers on the film are Karen Lunder for Imagine Entertainment and the writer Garrett.

Guadagnino has been quite busy and in demand. His next film “Challengers” opens from Amazon MGM in late April after it was delayed from a debut in the fall and at the Venice Film Festival due to the actors strike. On Monday there was a report that Guadagnino would reunite with his “Challengers” actor Josh O’Connor for a queer romance called “Separate Rooms” in the works at Fremantle. He’s also in the works on another film called “Queer” starring Daniel Craig.

Roberts most recently starred in Netflix’s “Leave the World Behind,” a thriller directed by Sam Esmail that co-starred Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali. The film is currently Netflix’s fifth most popular original feature ever.

All parties are represented by CAA; Garrett is also represented by Fourth Wall Management and Yorn Levine; Guadagnino by Range and Goodman Genow; Roberts is represented by Hirsch Wallenstein.

Deadline first reported the news.

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