We already know that J.J. Abrams recently shot “Ghostwriter,” a movie starring Glen Powell, seemingly set up for a 2026 release. It turns out he’s already working on his next one after that.
Dwayne Johnson is telling Deadline‘s Pete Hammond not to trust all the projects he’s attached to on IMDb, but that the Scorsese mob movie is real, and so is “Lizard Music,” his next film directed by Benny Safdie. Oh, and he’s going to team up with Abrams on a movie about movies.
It’s this big movie. About theaters. It’s very, very cool. Basically, imagine if movies came to life, in different genres, through the vision of J.J. Abrams.
Last year, Johnson teased a meeting he had with Abrams on Instagram, sprinkling clues here and there, also mentioning Zak Penn …
Zak Penn? Is he the main writer for this project? His credits include “Last Action Hero,” “Behind Enemy Lines,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Ready Player One,” and “Free Guy.” The big giveaway among those titles is “Last Action Hero,” which actually sounds like the film Johnson is describing to Hammond.
A production start date has obviously not been revealed yet for this Johnson/Abrams team-up, and Abrams is probably deep in post-production on “Ghostwriter,” so it won’t be shooting anytime soon.
For now, Johnson will be shooting “Lizard Music” next spring; the Scorsese movie is being written; and he also has Darren Aronofsky’s “Breakthrough,” with A24, happening at some point. Of course, Johnson isn’t totally going off the blockbuster path: next year he has “Jumanji 3” and a live-action “Moana” set up for release.
As for Abrams, after creating “Felicity,” “Alias,” and “Lost,” this boy genius graduated to film and directed “Mission: Impossible 3,” “Star Trek,” and “Super 8,” among others. The sky was the limit for Abrams, with many people dubbing him “the next Spielberg.” Is it safe to say that Abrams sustained a lot of damage from Disney’s last “Star Wars” trilogy? He oversaw the entire thing and even directed two of the films (“The Force Awakens” and “The Rise of Skywalker”).
Six years later, he’s finally directed a new film (“Ghostwriter”) and seems to have another one in the works.
There's a lot of talent. Julianne Moore, Elle Fanning, Josh Hartnett, Emma Thompson, Sally Hawkins, Danny Huston, Robert Aramayo and Chloe Pirrie will all be part of the sprawling ensemble.