First Look: Austin Butler & Matt Smith in Darren Aronofsky's ‘Caught Stealing'

Darren Aronofsky’s next film, “Caught Stealing,” is currently shooting in NYC. Some on-set pictures have leaked online (via The Daily Mail).

The film follows a burned-out former baseball player (Austin Butler) who is plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of ‘90s NYC. Sounds like something the Safdies would concoct.

Based on the book by Charlie Huston, who will also be writing the script, Sony is producing the film, which is being dubbed a “thriller”. This is set to be Aronofsky’s next film as his recently reported Elon Musk biopic is still in the very much in the early stages of development.

Production on “Caught Stealing” began in early September and is supposed to go on until November. It is assumed that the film will get released next year.

Set to join Butler in the film are Matt Smith, Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Vincent D’Onofrio, Liev Schreiber, Bad Bunny and Griffin Dunne. I don’t think Dunne’s casting is a coincidence; he was the lead in Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” which this film, apparently, might heavily be inspired by.

Aronofsky’s last film, “The Whale,” was released in 2022 to mostly fine reviews, and it did win Brendan Fraser the Oscar for Best Actor. Audiences really liked “The Whale” — it grossed $54M worldwide on a skimp $3 million budget.

I wasn’t big on “The Whale,” just as I didn’t care for “Noah,” “mother!” and “The Fountain”. However, Aronofsky will always be a worthy filmmaker in my books for having directed three genuinely great films — “The Wrestler,” “Black Swan” and “Requiem For A Dream.”