Mimi Cave, director of “Fresh” (good!) and “Holland” (bad!), has set up her next film, a psychological thriller titled “Pumping Black,” in which Natalie Portman will star opposite Jonathan Bailey.
The film, set in the ruthless world of professional cycling, will be directed by Cave from a screenplay by Haley Hope Bartels. International sales will launch at Cannes.
Bailey’s casting comes after a breakout blockbuster year fueled by the success of “Jurassic World Rebirth” and “Wicked: For Good,” which together — if you can believe it — helped make him 2025’s highest-grossing actor.
The story of “Pumping Black” centers on Taylor Mace, an aging professional cyclist played by Bailey, who fears he is being pushed out of the sport at age 35. He becomes entangled with Andrea Lathe, a doctor portrayed by Portman whose obsession with power and winning pushes both characters into increasingly dangerous territory as the Tour de France approaches.
I presume sports enhancing juice will be prescribed.
Described as an “intense” and “adrenaline-fueled thriller” in the vein of “Whiplash” and “Black Swan,” the film explores ambition, secrecy, and the psychological cost of elite competition. Filming is scheduled to begin in the fall.
Cave is coming off her 2022 debut, “Fresh” — an inventive cannibal dramedy starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan, and last year’s “Holland,” a much-delayed Nicole Kidman vehicle that earned none-too-pleasant reviews, and went straight to Prime Video.