What makes a reality? That appears to be a fundamental question in The Actor, a film adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s novel Memory.
Neon released a trailer for The Actor today, and in it we see stars André Holland and Gemma Chan navigating surreal situations—many of which are shrouded in an eerie haze, and some of which include retro television sets—as Holland’s character sifts through different versions of his life, unsure which one is accurate. (Or are they all accurate or real in some way? Something to ponder… )
Here’s the official synopsis:
Based on the novel Memory by Donald E. Westlake, The Actor finds Paul Cole (Holland) stranded in a mysterious small town with no memory of who he is or how he got here. Without a sense of identity or purpose, he starts from scratch and begins courting a local costume designer Edna (Chan). As bits and pieces of his past slowly emerge, he attempts to find his way home, but time is slippery, appearances can’t be trusted, and it’s unclear which of his identities is real.
The movie looks, in a word, weird. And when a placard in the trailer says that Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, Synecdoche, New York) is an executive producer, it all makes sense. It makes even more sense when you find out that Duke Johnson, who co-directed Anomalisa with Kaufman, is directing here and co-wrote the script with Stephen Cooney.
In addition to Holland and Chan, The Actor stars May Calamawy, Asim Chaudhry, Joe Cole, Fabien Frankel, Olwen Fouéré, Edward Hogg, Toby Jones, Yousseff Kerkour, Simon McBurney, Tanya Reynolds, Tracey Ullman, and Scott Alexander Young.
The movie premieres in select theaters on March 14, 2025.
Check out the trailer below.
