Photo courtesy of Disney.
Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) has announced his debut in the lead role of a feature film. The movie (title, logline, and release date TBA) is co-written and co-produced by Tesfaye and Reza Fahim (with Kevin Turen and Harrison Kreiss also listed as producers), directed and executive produced by Trey Edward Shults (Waves, It Comes at Night, Krisha), and scored by Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never, who helped produce Tesfaye’s two latest albums and was the musical director for his Super Bowl LV halftime performance). Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) and Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisheerin, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) will co-star alongside Tesfaye.
Since releasing his fifth studio album, Dawn FM (number nine on The FADER’s 50 best albums of 2022 list), Tesfaye has toured with Doja Cat, performed at Coachella, released a single on a playable saw blade, voiced a Simpsons character, written an Oscar-nominated original song for the soundtrack to Avatar: The Way of Water, and, most recently, reunited with his old collaborator Ariana Grande for a remix of his Starboy cut “Die For You.” He’ll star in a new HBO series called The Idol (also created in collaboration with Reza Fahim, as well as director Sam Levinson), premiering later this year. Its first two trailers are out now.
