Back in September, and following a heated bidding battle, A24 boarded “Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel,” a sci-fi thriller from “Together” writer-director Michael Shanks whose script appeared on the 2021 Black List, will both direct and produce the project.
The “mind-bending” thriller follows a man who wakes up trapped in a mysterious hotel room. Alone in a surreal prison, his only hope of escape is teamwork—with himself.
We now have a report that none other than Daniel Kaluuya has signed up to lead Shanks’ film. This is a huge get for the project; Kaluuya is an immensely talented actor who hasn’t starred in a film since 2022’s Jordan Peele-directed “Nope.”
“Together” was one of the breakout successes at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where Shanks’ body-horror comedy earned strong reviews and a major acquisition deal, with Neon picking up distribution rights. The film premiered this summer and went on to gross $32M worldwide.
Back to Kaluuya: he broke out in Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” went on to star in Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther,” Steve McQueen’s “Widows,” and won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “Judas and the Black Messiah.” There’s a reason why people were wondering why the actor had stepped away from acting for four years: he’s a notable screen presence.
Many had theories. One of them, and most amusingly, suggested Kaluuya had gone off the deep end by having his personal “life strategist” on the set of every movie he shot. Sources said they were concerned by the influence of this “life strategist,” who went by the name of “Heir Holiness.”
In her Instagram account, Heir described herself as “a spiritual gangster serving a life sentence in a human body.” It came to the point where, apparently, Kaluuya had been put on several blacklists for his erratic on-set behavior.
Four years later, Kaluuya has cut ties with Heir Holiness and is now returning to acting. Alongside Shanks’ film, he also recently shot a supporting role in Chris Rock’s upcoming “Misty Green,” also produced by A24.
The DGA and IATSE are two of the most powerful showbiz unions, and If this merger does go through, they will have absolutely played a role in helping make it happen.