Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley Starring in ‘Blue Moon’

The director also has Andrew Scott and Bobby Cannavale starring in his latest movie, which charts the fractious history of songwriting duo Rodgers & Hart.

(Left) Ethan Hawke plays Arthur Harrow in Marvel's 'Moon Knight' on Disney+. (Right) Margaret Qualley in 'Kinds of Kindness.' Photo by Yorgos Lanthimos. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

Preview:

Richard Linklater has cast his next film, ‘Blue Moon’.
Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley and Andrew Scott are all aboard.
Linklater will film in Dublin, Ireland this summer.

While some directors would be content to rest on their laurels after a successful recent release (the Glen Powell-starring Netflix smash ‘Hit Man’), that really isn’t Richard Linklater’s style.

He already has ‘Nouvelle Vague’, about the production of Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ in the editing stage and is also still shooting footage for his decades-in-the-making film version of musical ‘Merrily We Roll Along’).

Deadline reports that the busy filmmaker has secured backing for his next movie, ‘Blue Moon’, which follows the highs and lows of a real-life songwriting partnership and has locked in an interesting cast.

What’s the story of ‘Blue Moon’?

Written by Robert Kaplow, author of the novel ‘Me and Orson Welles’ (which inspired the Linklater film of the same name), ‘Blue Moon’ profiles the final days of Lorenz Hart, part of the hit songwriting team Rodgers & Hart –– who wrote ‘Blue Moon’ itself.

The movie is set primarily in New York’s Sardi’s Restaurant on March 31, 1943, the opening night of ‘Oklahoma!’, which marked Richard Rodgers’ first collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II as Hart’s replacement.

Who will appear in ‘Blue Moon’?

Ethan Hawke stars in 'The Black Phone,' directed by Scott Derrickson and opening in theaters on June 24th.

Linklater has rounded up quite the cast for this one, which will be anchored by his ninth collaboration with Ethan Hawke.

Margaret Qualley, who is in Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘Kinds of Kindness’, Bobby Cannavale (‘Ezra’) and Andrew Scott (star of recent Netflix drama, ‘Ripley’) are also all on for the new movie, with Linklater planning a Dublin, Ireland shoot this summer.

Who is backing ‘Blue Moon’?

Adria Arjona as Madison, director and co-writer Richard Linkletter, co-writer Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, and director of photography Shane F. Kelly.

(L to R) Adria Arjona as Madison, director and co-writer Richard Linkletter, co-writer Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, and director of photography Shane F. Kelly. Photo: Brian Rondel / Courtesy of Netflix.Cr. Brian Rondel / Courtesy of Netflix.

Sony Pictures Classics will be financing the film after developing it for the past few months, with parent company Sony distributing it around the world. Linklater is aboard to produce alongside Mike Blizzard and longtime manager John Sloss.

This was the official statement from Sony Pictures Classics:

“Almost a year ago, Rick, Ethan, and John reached out to us with Robert Kaplow’s amazing script ‘Blue Moon’. Helping them over the following months to bring it together has been incredibly exciting and now, on the verge of production, with this fantastic cast and crew in place and Rick at the helm, we are thrilled to finally announce it and bring the film to audiences everywhere in the world.”

Here’s what Linklater had to say: