Ari Aster is getting ready to put together a star-studded cast for his next film Scapegoat. This follows confirmation earlier this week that Scarlett Johansson would lead the A24 thriller, and now it’s Oscar-nominated actor Jacob Elordi who is in negotiations to co-star. Aster wrote the original script and will also direct. He will produce with his Square Peg partner Lars Knudsen as part of his continuing creative partnership with the small studio.
Aster met with multiple actors, Deadline reports, and ultimately decided on Elordi as his top choice to play the co-lead. It’s a bit like how quickly he decided to get Johansson for the female lead. The studio started talking to Elordi about a deal in early August, and while nothing has been officially signed yet, the talks are reportedly going well. If the deals go thru as planned, production is expected to begin late 2026, with principal photography set to begin in November.
A24 and Square Peg are keeping the official plot details under wraps, but industry buzz and loglines are leaking out and giving us a small idea of where the story is headed. Some believe the film will carry a similar spiritual theme as Aster’s previous film, Eddington. It would expand on Aster’s exploration of modern social poisoning and public outrage by the media. Entertainment industry reports suggest the story could revolve around a famous surgeon (Johansson) whose professional life is turned upside down when a routine operation goes wrong, killing an internet star. That sets off a media frenzy and a mob mentality led by the influencer’s inner circle and family members.
Both the lead actors are at a pivotal point in their careers. Recently, Elordi was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as the Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and will soon star in Ridley Scott’s post-apocalyptic thriller The Dog Stars, co-starring with Margot Robbie in Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights, and return for the final season of Euphoria. Scarlett Johansson also just finished The Exorcist: Martyrs with director Mike Flanagan for Universal and Blumhouse, a part of her plan to focus on high-concept auteur-driven genre films in addition to her big-budget movie commitments.
Scapegoat marks Aster’s fifth consecutive feature film with A24. The distribution partnership began with Hereditary and continued with Midsommar, Beau Is Afraid and Eddington. Aster and Lars Knudsen’s production company Square Peg has become a major creative engine for A24, backing films like Nicolas Cage’s “Dream Scenario,” Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia” and Kristoffer Borgli’s “The Drama.” High-end thriller Scapegoat is looking to be one of the most talked about releases, with Darius Khondji, an acclaimed cinematographer, returning as director of photography and a theatrical release scheduled for 2027.