When will Benny Safdie roll camera on his next movie, “Lizard Music“? If the latest casting update from Variety is any indication, it should be soon.
The outlet reports that Safdie has added another, and purportedly final, name to the film’s cast sheet in newcomer Arya Parvathi. She joins the previously announced Dwayne Johnson, Alicia Silverstone, Regina Hall, Tim Heidecker, and Theo Leber on the fantasy film. Based on Daniel Pinkwater‘s 1976 children’s novel of the same name, “Lizard Water” follows a boy who stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music, which leads him to uncover a magical world and one of its inhabitants, Johnson’s 70-year-old Chicken Man and his 111-year-old best friend, an elderly chicken named Claudia. Yes, that’s the actual set-up.
Here’s a plot synopsis for the film via an earlier piece about “Lizard Music” from last September:
When a boy left to his own devices stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music, a hidden door to the extraordinary swings open. His search for answers leads him to the eccentric and whimsical Chicken Man and his beloved companion, a 70-year-old chicken named Claudia — two kindred spirits who have also glimpsed the impossible. United by this shared vision, they set off on an adventure that begins as a hunt for a hidden society but blossoms into something far greater: a voyage through invisible worlds, unexpected harmonies, and the unbreakable bond between lost souls who discover magic not only in what they find but in each other.
Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt will produce “Lizard Music” via United Artists. Safdie also produces through his Out For The Count Productions banner, along with Johnson via his Seven Bucks Productions, and David Koplan through Magnetic Fields Entertainment.
With “Lizard Music,” Safdie and Johnson team up again after last year’s biopic “The Smashing Machine,” which won Safdie the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The film, about UFC legend Mark Kerr, didn’t make waves at the box office, however, and early predictions of an awards season run for Johnson didn’t pan out.
Expect “Lizard Music” to reach audiences in 2028; as of now, there’s no distributor attached to the project.
