THE ACTOR Trailer: André Holland Searches for Identity and Love in Duke Johnson’s Labyrinthian Mystery

Stop-motion animation filmmaker Duke Johnson is making his live-action feature debut with The Actor. Johnson, who co-directed the Oscar-nominated Anomalisa with Charlie Kaufman (also an executive producer), adapts Donald E. Westlake’s 2010 novel Memory into a visually beguiling film that taps into the core of a man’s memory. Johnson co-wrote the screenplay with Stephen Cooney.

André Holland stars as a man who loses his memory following a brutal attack in 1950s Ohio, and goes down a perplexing path of self-discovery and love. Gemma Chan, May Calamawy, Asim Chaudhry, Joe Cole, Fabien Frankel, Olwen Fouéré, Edward Hogg, Toby Jones, Youssef Kerkour, Simon McBurney, Tanya Reynolds, Tracey Ullman, and Scott Alexander Young co-star.

NEON has just released the official trailer ahead of its release in theaters on March 14.

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.

See the official trailer and teaser poster below.

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