Bradford Young to DP Ramy Youssef’s ‘Martha & Muhammad’

So we already know Ramy Youssef is attached to direct his first feature for A24, with Josh Safdie coming aboard as co-writer and producer.

The film is called “Martha & Muhammad.” It stars Youssef and Sharon Stone and tells the story of a white, widowed socialite in New York who develops a relationship with a young Muslim man. Production will begin this October in NYC.

Now it looks like Bradford Young — who took a sabbatical from movies these last seven or eight years — has attached to the project as DP. This is a welcome surprise.

Young had a very promising start to his career (“Arrival,” “A Most Violent Year,” “Selma”), deemed by some as a future great in cinematography, and then he just stopped making movies. Maybe he was soured by the experience he had on 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which was filled with behind-the-scenes chaos, including its directors (Phil Lord and Chris Miller) exiting the film during production.

In an interview on the Team Deakins podcast, Young spoke about potentially leaving the industry for good. He was actually supposed to lens Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Bardo” back in 2021, optioned as the main DP on that film, but had major disagreements with Iñárritu and was later replaced by Darius Khondji.

Anyway, it does seem like Young is back, as he just shot Michael B. Jordan’s “Thomas Crown Affair” remake for Amazon/MGM. More to come on “Martha & Muhammad,” which — if all falls into place — could reach theaters by 2027.