(Left) Dwayne Johnson attends the World Premiere of Netflix’s ‘Pink Discover’ at Regal LA Dwell. Picture: Kevin Mazur. (Proper) Darren Aronofsky (director, ‘Caught Stealing’) at CinemaCon 2025 for Sony Footage at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on March 31, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Picture by Stewart Prepare dinner/Sony Footage through Getty Photos.
Preview:
- Director Darren Aronofsky is circling the brand new thriller ‘Breakthrough’.
- Dwayne Johnson is taking a job within the film.
- A24 is backing this one.
Earlier this month, the information broke that Dwayne Johnson was trying so as to add one other darkish drama to his To Do listing, after as soon as once more dipping his toe in edgier waters with the upcoming A24 MMA biopic ‘The Smashing Machine.’
Johnson is taking a supporting function within the firm’s new thriller ‘Breakthrough.’

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Now, through Deadline, comes phrase that Darren Aronofsky, no stranger to such darker fare, is in early conversations to direct it.
Assuming a deal goes via, it will imply a reunion for the filmmaker and the studio, for which he made ‘The Whale’, which noticed Brendan Fraser win an Oscar.
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What’s the story of ‘Breakthrough’?

Dwayne Johnson in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ {Photograph} by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
The brand new script comes courtesy of up-and-coming expertise Zeke Goodman.
Set in turn-of-the-millennium Southern California, the film follows an alienated younger man who comes underneath the affect of a motivational guru, whose intoxicating appeal masks his morally questionable strategies of manipulation and his personal hid darkness.
Johnson will play the function of the guru, with casting nonetheless underway for the lead function and different characters.
Goodman’s CV contains appearing work on sequence corresponding to ‘I Know What You Did Final Summer time,’‘Merciless Intentions’ and ‘The Searching Occasion.’ He’s additionally labored as a author, director, producer and actor on a variety of quick movies, and can be seen in upcoming thriller comedy film ‘All That Glisters.’
A24 is financing the film, whereas Stacey Sher’s Shiny Penny Productions will produce alongside Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions.
What else has Darren Aronofsky labored on?

Director Darren Aronofsky on the set of ‘The Whale’ from A24.
Aronofsky is understood for the likes of ‘Pi’, ‘The Wrestler’, ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Requiem for a Dream,’ in addition to the aforementioned ‘The Whale.’
The filmmaker will subsequent launch ‘Caught Stealing’, which stars Austin Butler as ex-baseball participant Hank Thompson, who unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a harmful battle for survival amidst the prison underbelly of Nineteen Nineties New York Metropolis, pressured to navigate a treacherous underworld he by no means imagined.
‘Caught Stealing’ will hit theaters on August twenty fifth.
When will ‘Breakthrough’ be on screens?
Even assuming Aronofsky agrees to direct, it’d take some time to return collectively given the time wanted to get the film into manufacturing (and Johnson’s ever-busy schedule, although his taking a supporting function and never the lead will doubtless assist with that).
A24 hasn’t but slotted this one on its schedule.

Dwayne Johnson in ‘The Smashing Machine’. Picture: A24.