Trey Shults to Direct Secret A24 Movie

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
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Trey Shults is riding the wave of Hollywood stardom.

After the “Waves” director recently confirmed an upcoming film starring Jenna Ortega, Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan, and The Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye, sources told IndieWire that Shults is additionally helming a secret A24 film. Casting has not yet been announced for the still-untitled feature.

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A24 recently took home nine Oscars and made history as the first studio to dominate all major categories at the Academy Awards, with Best Picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Whale” sweeping acting categories.

The previously announced Shults film, which he co-wrote with Tesfaye, also has tangential ties to A24. Reza Fahim, who collaborated with Tesfaye on HBO series “The Idol,” also co-wrote the new project; A24 produces “The Idol,” as well as “Euphoria,” with “The Idol” showrunner Sam Levinson.

Tesfaye will compose the score for the feature with Daniel Lopatin, or OPN, who worked on the Safdie Brothers’ A24 films “Uncut Gems” and “Good Time.” Tesfaye, Fahim, Kevin Turen, and Harrison Kreiss produce, while Shults and Ortega executive produce. A studio for the film has not yet been announced, but all three of Shults’ prior projects have been distributed by A24.

Shults made his feature directorial debut in 2015 with “Krisha,” followed by 2017’s “It Comes at Night” and 2019’s “Waves.” Shults previously told IndieWire that interning with director Terrence Malick changed his life and set him on the filmmaking course.

“After that I got obsessed and just studying movies and studying movies,” Shults said in 2017. “I had no life. I worked for my dad at my parents’ house, watching movies, making shorts and interning for Terry.”

He continued, “After I wrote ‘It Comes at Night’ — the two films are interlinked — I thought [it] would be my first movie, not ‘Krisha.'” Shults first tried to make “Krisha” in five days with a budget of $7,000.

“I failed miserably, had a nervous breakdown behind closed doors that whole week, the worst week of my life because I believed in the story,” he said. “It comes from a personal place, and I knew what the movie could be.”

Eventually, the footage was repurposed into a proof-of-concept short film that later led to financing for a feature.

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