Writer/director Ari Aster is again teaming up with genre studio A24 for his latest feature, “Scapegoat,” and after lining up Scarlett Johansson (“Under the Skin,” “Marriage Story”) for the female lead, they’ve enlisted another high-profile actor for the gestating project.
A new casting update from Deadline has revealed that recent Oscar-nominated actor Jacob Elordi is now in talks for a main part opposite Johansson, who was recently seen in Guillermo del Toro‘s “Frankenstein,” he co-starred with Margot Robbie in “Wuthering Heights,” the final season of “Euphoria,” and leads Ridley Scott‘s upcoming post-apocalypse movie “The Dog Stars,” arriving in theaters later this month.
According to the reporting, Elordi has had a slew of offers after his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for the aforementioned “Frankenstein,” playing the latest iteration of Frankenstein’s monster (a makeup-heavy role that had been played by Robert De Niro in the 1990s) and is looking to land on the new Aster film. Apparently, Aster has only had one person in mind for the part after meeting with a bunch of other actors, although Elordi hasn’t closed a deal for “Scapegoat” just yet. Aster is going to be producing alongside his Square Peg partner Lars Knudsen.
There have been some insider theories about what this movie could be about (a doctor operating on an internet personality, a sci-fi romance, or a traditional drama), but the trade article isn’t really locking down any of those ideas as confirmed, or a real consensus has materialized. If you weren’t already aware, A24 has been Aster’s distributor on his last four films, “Hereitary,” “Midsommar,” “Beau Is Afraid,” and the COVID-era small town thriller “Eddington.”
Johansson recently worked with Mike Flanagan on Universal/Blumhouse‘s legacy horror movie “The Exorcist: Martyrs” and is said to be gearing up for a return for a new “Jurassic World” film, as that sequel is seeking a new director after Gareth Edwards passed on a return. Her next big theatrical release will be NEON and James Gray‘s crime flick “Paper Tigers,” which sees her performing alongside Miles Teller and Adam Driver; that one heads to theaters in a wide release on November 20.
Stay tuned for further information on “Scapegoat,” as we feel like we’ll be learning more about the film while more roles are filled with other actors.
