Netflix’s dark new thriller with A-list cast gets first look

Adam Scott, Michael Keaton, and Robert De Niro star in the thriller.

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

Looking to his estranged father (Oscar-winner Robert De Niro, Raging Bull), 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 ton 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).

Watch the trailer for The Whisper Man right here:

When JOE interviewed Hamish Linklater last year about his 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.

The Whisper Man will be released on Netflix on 28 August. The Rule of Jenny Pen, meanwhile, is streaming on Shudder.