Netflix's dark new thriller with A-list cast gets exciting update from star

The serial killer thriller is based on a best-selling novel.

One of the stars of Netflix's upcoming thriller The Whisper Man has said that the project was a "total thrill" to work on, before praising its director as "unbelievable".

Based on the best-selling mystery novel of the same name by Alex North, the movie will star Adam Scott (Severance) as Tom Kennedy, a widowed crime writer whose eight-year-old son is abducted.

Looking to his estranged father, a retired former police detective, for help, he discovers a connection between the disappearance and a decades-old case of a convicted serial killer known as 'The Whisper Man'.

The upcoming Netflix film boasts a lot of talent both on-screen and off. It is produced by Anthony and Joe Russo (the Avengers films), directed by James Ashcroft (2024's acclaimed horror The Rule of Jenny Pen) and written by Ben Jacoby (The First Omen) and Chase Palmer (It).

Meanwhile, the cast also includes two-time Oscar-winner Robert De Niro (Raging Bull), alongside Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass), John Carroll Lynch (Zodiac), Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice), Michelle Monaghan (The White Lotus) and Owen Teague (The Empty Man).

Indeed, when JOE recently interviewed Hamish Linklater about his absolutely scene-stealing turn in the second season of Prime Video's adult superhero series Gen V, we had to ask him about The Whisper Man.

At first, Linklater was tight-lipped about the project, telling us: "Yeah, I can tell you that I worked on it with Robert De Niro and Michael Keaton... It was a total thrill, total thrill."

When we responded that we are big fans of The Whisper Man's director James Ashcroft, Linklater got very excited, calling him "unbelievable". This was before recommending that people check out the filmmaker's earlier horror, The Rule of Jenny Pen.

Linklater told JOE:

"Oh my God, he's unbelievable. That director James Ashcroft is unbelievable.
"He did this movie [The Rule of Jenny Pen] that is so scary. It's set in a retirement home in [New Zealand] and it stars Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow.
"It's so gross, and those two guys give the most unbelievable performances, but it's beautifully shot.
"Horror with old people... I had to watch it in like increments, but it's so good."

When JOE said that we were hoping for some of that energy in The Whisper Man, Linklater crossed his fingers for good luck.

Gen V season two is streaming on Prime Video now. The Whisper Man does not have a release date on Netflix yet, though The Rule of Jenny Pen is available to watch on the service Shudder.

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It’s currently priced at €53.52 in a limited-time deal on the Amazon website.

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