Ryan Gosling’s ‘The Actor’ Goes to NEON

We’re only a couple of weeks away from this year’s Oscars ceremony, which is perhaps drawing people’s minds back to the excitement we all experienced last year when Parasite pulled off the surprise win for Best Picture. 

One of the many reasons people attempted to discount that film’s path to success was the fact that NEON was handling its campaign strategy, a studio that some analysts felt wasn’t ready to compete with the deep pockets over at studios like Netflix, Universal, and Warner Bros. 

Well, NEON proved them all wrong, establishing itself as a bonafide major player in the awards race, and they’ve now added another potential awards darling to their upcoming slate. 

Already in production on Pablo Larrain’s highly anticipated Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana in what is sure to be a much-discussed performance, NEON has announced today (per Deadline) that they’ve secured North American rights for The Actor, the new film from Oscar nominated director Duke Johnson. 

The film, based on the best-selling novel Memory by Donald E. Westlake, is set in 1950s Ohio, telling the story of an actor suffering from memory loss who must make his way home to New York and reclaim what he has lost. Ryan Gosling stars in the leading role. 

Johnson is making his live-action feature debut with the film, having previously co-directed 2015’s Anomalisa with Charlie Kaufman, which netted them an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. Kaufman is on board The Actor as an executive producer. Johnson co-wrote the script for the film with Stephen Cooney. 

This is a huge grab for NEON, and another demonstration that they are a force to be reckoned with in the awards game, with several highly-anticipated titles on their docket.