Upcoming Film The Actor

Westlake">Donald E. Westlake. The film marks Johnson's solo directorial debut and stars André Holland as Paul Cole, a New York actor who lost his memory after being beaten up and left for dead in 1950s Ohio. Stranded in a mysterious small town, Paul struggles to get back home and reclaim his life and identity. The ensemble cast includes Gemma Chan, May Calamawy, Toby Jones, Tracey Ullman, Olwen Fouéré, Joe Cole, Tanya Reynolds, Asim Chaudhry, Youssef Kerkour, Simon McBurney and Edward Hogg.

• André Holland as Paul Cole
• Gemma Chan
• May Calamawy
• Olwen Fouéré as Old Lady Track
• Toby Jones
• Simon McBurney
• Joe Cole as Nick
• Tracey Ullman as Mrs. Malloy/Helen/Deerville Woman
• Tanya Reynolds
• Asim Chaudhry
• Youssef Kerkour as Black Jack/Ed/Defense Attorney/Busdriver
• Edward Hogg as Make Up Artist
• Thomas Dominique as Phil
• Fabien Frankel
• Scott Alexander Young

Development

On February 24, 2021, Deadline reported that Ryan Gosling had committed to star in The Actor, with Duke Johnson directing a screenplay he wrote with Stephen Cooney, based on Donald E. Westlake's 2010 novel Memory. Gosling was set to produce the film with Waypoint Entertainment's Ken Kao, Johnson and Abigail Spencer's Innerlight Films, and Paul Young's Make Good company, with CAA Media Finance and Endeavor Content co-repping the film's U.S. rights, and Endeavor Content handling international sales. Collider reported that before Gosling signed on to star in the film, Aaron Taylor-Johnson was previously circling the project. The Actor was a top seller at Berlin's 2021 European Film Market.

On April 12, 2021, it was reported that Neon had acquired North American distribution rights to the film and that Charlie Kaufman–who co-directed the 2015 film Anomalisa with Johnson–had joined the project as executive producer. The same day, Neon shared on their Twitter account that the film would be released in 2022.

On October 18, 2022, producer Abigail Spencer said in an interview with the website The Retaility that the film was in pre-production in Budapest and that André Holland and Gemma Chan were the leads. On October 29, 2022, FilmBook announced that actress Olwen Fouéré had joined the cast, which also included Tracey Ullman, May Calamawy, Tanya Reynolds, Simon McBurney, Edward Hogg, Asim Chaudhry, and Youssef Kerkour.

On April 4, 2023, Neon announced that Ryan Gosling–who was originally attached to star as Paul Cole before being replaced by Holland–remained in the film as an executive producer.

Filming

Principal photography was originally scheduled to start in Los Angeles on September 6, 2021, but was pushed back to mid-January 2022.

Filming began in Budapest, Hungary in November 2022, and wrapped in April 2023.