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A24 must not think Dwayne Johnson is a candy ass, because the studio is currently working with the Red One actor on two separate projects. One is Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, which stars Johnson as real-life MMA fighter, Mark Kerr. That film is due out this October. The other is a project called Breakthrough, written by Zeke Goodman. Johnson’s involvement was announced in May, with no director attached at the time. That changed today, as Darren Aronofsky has reportedly entered the ring, Deadline reports.
Aronofsky is reportedly in “early conversations” with the studio, which had no comment on the matter. If he does accept the project, it will mark a reunion between him and A24, which also distributed The Whale in 2022.
The Black Swan director has been keeping busy lately. His latest film, Caught Stealing, starring Austin Butler and Zoë Kravitz, is set to premiere August 29. He’s also deep in his new generative AI venture, Primordial Soup. The first film birthed from the project centers on just that. Eliza McNitt’s AI-produced Ancestra follows her “own life-threatening birth, when doctors discovered a hole in her heart.” Ancestra premieres tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival, so Aronofsky may have a bit more time on his hands moving forward.
He also may have been swayed by the Breakthrough‘s wacky plot description, which does sound a little bit like an LLM regurgitation of Fight Club. Per Deadline: “Set in turn-of-the-millennium Southern California, the story follows an alienated young man who comes under the influence of a motivational guru, whose intoxicating charm masks his morally questionable methods of manipulation and his own concealed darkness.” Johnson will reportedly play the guru, with casting still underway for the lead role. We’ll see if Aronofsky officially adds this one to his roster in the coming weeks.
