'The Chain': Emma Stone Reportedly To Star In Edgar Wright's Upcoming Kidnapping Thriller (Updated)

A source with direct knowledge of this project says this story’s details are incorrect. It’s unclear which parts and if the entire story is false. The original story is below.

2021’s “Last Night In Soho” marked the first film in Edgar Wright‘s filmography that critics and audiences alike didn’t care for. A strange pivot in his career, to be sure, especially after 2017’s “Baby Driver” was Wright’s biggest commercial success by a wide margin. But tepid reviews and box office numbers apparently haven’t scared Wright away from doing another thriller as his follow-up to “Soho.” The Direct reports that Wright will direct “The Chain,” about a mother of a kidnapped child forced to kidnap another kid to get hers back, with Emma Stone set to star.

READ MORE: ‘AND’: Yorgos Lanthimos Has New Movie Coming With Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe & Margaret Qualley To Star

Based on Adrian McKinty‘s 2019 novel of the same name, Wright directs a script from “X-Men: First Class” scribe Jane Goldman. According to DeadlineUniversal first acquired the rights to adapt McKinty’s book in June 2020. Stone will star in the film as Rachel, a divorced mother with cancer who receives a phone call about her abducted 12-year-old daughter Kylie. The only way to get Kylie back? Kidnap another family’s child, but then that family must kidnap a kid, too, continuing “The Chain.”

Remember that Wright and Stone’s involvement in “The Chain” is just a report for now, but the film marks a departure for both director and actress. Wright likes to work in genres; this film would be his first bonafide thriller. It’d be Stone’s first true suspense film, too, the closest approximation in her filmography being the “Zombieland” films, which really aren’t the same thing.  

But Stone has many projects to finish before “The Chain” enters production. She stars in two upcoming Yorgos Lanthimos movies, “Poor Things” and “And,” with both possibly hitting theaters this year. And there’s Disney‘s “Cruella” sequel, as well as a Showtime comedy series, “The Curse,” about a troubled couple who host an HGTV show. Wright has a couple of potential upcoming projects, too, like his adaptation of Stephen King‘s Richard Bachman novel “The Running Man,” (already a 1987 film with Arnold Schwarzeneggar) and a possible adaptation of the 2020 novel “Set My Heart To Five.”  

So with Stone’s busy schedule and Wright’s potentially busy one, don’t expect “The Chain” to hit theaters until mid-2024 at the earliest. But let’s get official confirmation that Stone is on board “The Chain” before serious predictions about this film’s theatrical release date.