After a breakout role in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” Monica Barbaro‘s career is poised to soar even higher after her next starring role in “A Complete Unknown,” in theaters this December. So no wonder she joins one of Hollywood’s buzziest upcoming projects. Deadline reports that Barbaro is the latest to join Bart Layton‘s “Crime 101” at Amazon MGM. She joins Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, and Halle Berry; that’s quite the cast for the buzzy actress to rub shoulders with.
Layton’s film adapts Don Winslow‘s crime novella of the same name, about a cat-and-mouse chase between an LAPD detective and a master jewel thief. While other cops think a string of high-stake diamond heists along the Pacfic Coast Highway are cartel-related, Lou Lubesnick thinks otherwise, and he’s out to catch the thief before his final score.
No word on who Barbaro will play in the movie, but it’s unclear who any of the ensemble is at the moment. Still, working with ex-“Avengers” like Ruffalo and Hemsworth is star power similar to Tom Cruise. And Keoghan is arguably the movie industry’s fastest-rising actors (next to his “Saltburn” co-star Jacob Elordi). So good company to be in for Barbaro (with Berry of course a wonderful veteran presence).
“Crime 101” will be Layton’s first film since 2018’s “American Animals.” Producers in the pic include Working Title‘s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, Shane Salerno through The Story Factory, Layton and Dimitri Doganis through RAW, Derrin Schlesinger, and Hemswroth and Ben Grayson via Wild State. Joely Fether executive producers through RAW.
Since “Top Gun: Maverick,” Barbaro’s other acting credits include Netflix‘s “FUBAR” opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger (which has a new season on the way), and the Paramount+ rom-com “At Midnight.” But expect Barbaro to collect even more roles like “Crime 101” after “A Complete Unknown” hits theaters on Christmas Day.
Amazon MGM doesn’t have “Crime 101” on its release calendar yet, but expect it in theaters by 2026.