If anyone could make a long, drawn-out spiel about indie music that you’ve probably never heard of because it’s so underground charming, it’s Saoirse Ronan. Luckily, she’ll be the one delivering those holier-than-thou opinions in Deep Cuts, a new film from A24 and The Iron Claw director Sean Durkin, per Deadline. On the receiving end will be Austin Butler, taking on another singer-songwriter role after his Oscar-nominated turn in 2022’s Elvis.
The friends-to-lovers romance will be adapted from Holly Brickley’s 2025 novel of the same name. “It’s a Friday night in a campus bar in Berkeley, fall of 2000, and Percy Marks is pontificating about music again. Hall and Oates is on the jukebox, and Percy—who has no talent for music, just lots of opinions about it—can’t stop herself from overanalyzing the song, indulging what she knows to be her most annoying habit,” a summary of the novel reads. “But something is different tonight. The guy beside her at the bar, fellow student Joe Morrow, is a songwriter. And he could listen to Percy talk all night.” Joe eventually asks Percy for feedback on a song of his, kicking off a partnership that spans years, ignites new passions for both, but “crush[es] their egos again and again.”
Ronan is doing double duty as a producer on the film. She’ll be joined by Ronald Bronstein, Eli Bush, and Josh Safdie. The Ladybird actor had two films premiere in 2024: addiction recovery drama The Outrun (which she also produced) and World War II epic, Blitz. Butler also had a packed year between Dune: Part Two, The Bikeriders, and Apple miniseries Masters Of The Air. He’ll also star in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing alongside Matt Smith, Zoë Kravitz, and Regina King, which is currently set for an August 29 premiere.
