Halle Bailey Joins Cast of Jesse Eisenberg’s Musical Comedy Film

Halle Bailey has joined Jesse Eisenberg’s upcoming A24 musical comedy alongside a star-studded cast that includes Havana Rose Liu, Bernadette Peters, Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Eldar Isgandarov, Bonnie Milligan, Colton Ryan, Lilli Cooper, and Maulik Pancholy.

This project marks Eisenberg’s third directorial effort, following his debut,  “When You Finish Saving the World” and the acclaimed “A Real Pain,” which earned him a Best Original Screenplay Oscar at the 97th Academy Awards. “A Real Pain” also brought Kieran Culkin a Best Supporting Actor award as previously reported by TNR.

The untitled film tells the story of a reserved woman who transforms after being cast in a community theater production, influenced by a compelling, mysterious director. Eisenberg wrote both the script and original music with lyrics for the film, with Steven Gizicki (“A Complete Unknown”) handling music supervision and Bill Sherman (“In the Heights”) serving as executive music producer.

Bailey, who gained recognition through her role as Ariel in Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” and as Young Nettie in “The Color Purple” musical film, joins this ensemble production, which began filming in April.

Emma Stone’s Fruit Tree production company is backing the project.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​