Joseph Gordon-Levitt has signed on to star in Pendulum, a new feature produced by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and directed by Mark Heyman (Black Swan).
The film will start principal photography in March 2025 in New Mexico. Black Bear is repping international rights on the film and will introduce the project to buyers at the American Film Market next week. UTA Independent Film Group, CAA Media Finance, and WME Independent hold domestic rights.
Described as a “terrifying new genre film,” the film follows the young couple Patrick (Gordon-Levitt) and Abigail on a journey to a new-age retreat in New Mexico, drawn by the possibility of healing after a traumatic event. Patrick is willing to do anything to help his wife but becomes distrustful of the retreat’s enigmatic leader even as Abigail falls under her spell. As paranoia builds, the couple must determine if the group’s unconventional spiritual practices offer genuine healing – or mask a terrifying truth that threatens to consume them both.
Aronofsky will produce through his Protozoa outfit. Also joining as producers are Jacob Jaffke (MaXXXine, Dream Scenario, Bodies Bodies Bodies) for Motel Mojave and Dave Caplan (Longlegs) for C2, which will also fully finance.
A long-time Aronofsky collaborator, Heyman wrote the screenplay for the director’s Black Swan, which grossed $330 million worldwide, and served as a co-producer on The Wrestler and executive producer on mother! Heyman also wrote Disney’s 2023 horror flick The Boogeyman. His other credits include The Skeleton Twins and the TV series Strange Angel at Paramount+.
Aronofsky is currently shooting the crime thriller Caught Stealing starring Austin Butler for Sony Pictures. The film follows Hank Thompson (Butler), a burned-out former baseball player, as he’s unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of ’90s NYC. In addition to Butler, the film also stars D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Vincent D’Onofrio, Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Will Brill, Bad Bunny and Griffin Dunne.
His Protozoa outfit is also responsible for Pablo Larrain’s Jackie, Yann Demange’s White Boy Rick, Josef Kubota Wladyka’s Catch the Fair One, Lance Oppenheim’s Some Kind of Heaven, Tobias Lindholm’s The Good Nurse, Jack Begert’s Little Death, Alex Pritz’s The Territory, and, most recently, Olivier Sarbil’s Viktor.
Jaffke’s Motel Mojave produced Ti West’s X trilogy. C2 Motion Picture Group has produced and financed pics such as Osgood Perkins’ breakout hit Longlegs and Guy Ritchie’s In the Grey.
