The Actor: Release date news, cast details, and more about the upcoming crime mystery film adaptation

Paul Cole from the thriller novel Memory will be looking for his lost life in its film adaptation dubbed The Actor. Ryan Gosling initially joined the crew to play the lead but was eventually replaced by Moonlight's Andre Holland, though the Blade Runner 2049 (2017) actor is said to be still attached as the executive producer.

The stop-motion specialist Duke Johnson, who co-directed and co-produced Anamolisa (2015), is in his solo directorial debut, which is scheduled to hit the theaters on March 14, 2025. While he is co-producing the upcoming film too, he has co-written the screenplay here, which wasn't the case in his previous movie as Charlie Kaufman did that.

Other than Holland, the film also stars Captain America: The Winter Soldier's (2014) Toby Jones, Eternals' Gemma Chan (2021), Moon Knight's (2022) May Calamawy, and more. Though Los Angeles was supposed to be the initial location for filming, it was canceled and instead began in Budapest, Hungary.

When will The Actor release?

Just yesterday, Neon dropped a trailer of the long-delayed The Actor alongside the official release date.

This comes via the film distribution company's official X (formerly Twitter) handle, where the post reads,

"THE ACTOR. From Academy Award-nominated director Duke Johnson and executive producer Charlie Kaufman comes an unforgettable cinematic odyssey. Starring André Holland and Gemma Chan. In select theaters March 14."

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Neon acquired the film's distribution rights for North America in 2021, which will open in select theaters according to another of their posts.

Confirmed actors appearing in the film

Andre Holland will be playing Paul Cole in the film, as we saw in the latest trailer. The concept somewhat appears to be similar to Christopher Nolan's 2000 movie Momento. The man has some gaps in his memory, which he will try to fill as the story moves.

Next up is Gemma Chan, who is playing Edna, a costume designer. Though it isn't clear what the character is up to, she is likely to be Cole's love interest in the film. Other than her, only a couple more actors have confirmed roles, where Cassie Lauren Lewis is playing Mrs. Wilson and Tracey Ullman is Mrs. Malloy.

The rest of the cast members are listed below.

Joe Cole
Simon McBurney
Toby Jones
Tanya Reynolds
May Calamawy
Olwen Fouere
Fabien Frankel
Youssef Kerkour
Edward Hogg
Asim Chaudhry
Scott Alexander Young

What is The Actor about?

If we go by the plot (via IMDb), here's what the story is like:

"When New York actor Paul Cole is beaten and left for dead in 1950s Ohio, he loses his memory and finds himself stranded in a mysterious small town where he struggles to get back home and reclaim what he's lost."

Interestingly, in the novel, Paul tries to return to New York, hoping that the place will help him with the memory loss. Interestingly, he cannot really return, given he has no money.

Who is scoring The Actor?

Richard Reed Parry is giving the film's score, and that name is sure to turn the Marvel fans for a brief moment. However, he isn't Mr. Fantastic but he sure is a part of this fantastic Grammy-winning band dubbed Arcade Fire.

To this date, he has three scores to his name in The Nest (2020), Eileen (2023), The Iron Claw (2023), and more. His solo albums include Quiet River of Dust (2018), Quiet River of Dust Vol. 2: That Side of the River (2019), and more.