It’s no secret that SAG-AFTRA is on strike. Actors have decided to stop working on major films and television shows until their demands regarding working conditions are met. Well, most of them, at least.
While it may seem antithetical to what SAG-AFTRA is trying to do, there are actually some productions that have been allowed to continue in the midst of the strike. According to Variety, SAG-AFTRA has approved 39 projects on the grounds that they are independent, and therefore not connected to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The AMPTP consists of all major Hollywood studios, including Netflix, Warner Bros. and Disney. They are the organization that SAG-AFTRA is trying to negotiate with.
One of these projects is Death of a Unicorn, an upcoming drama starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega. The film, which is being distributed by A24, is about Elliot (Rudd) and Ridley (Ortega), a father-daughter duo who accidentally crash into a unicorn on their way to a crisis management summit. The pharmaceutical titans who run the summit soon get hold of the unicorn, and discover that its blood and horn have supernatural curative powers. Chaos ensues.
Death of a Unicorn will be shot primarily in Hungary, and Midgard Times reports that the film will be produced by Lucas Joaquin and Ari Aster. The latter is an A24 veteran, having just released the polarizing psychological drama Beau Is Afraid in April. Death of a Unicorn will be a change of pace for both Rudd and Ortega, as both have spent the past few years in mainstream releases.
Rudd has played Ant-Man since 2015. He’s been critically acclaimed for his performances in the various MCU films, even if his last solo outing, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, underperformed at the box office. Rudd is also attached to star in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and an untitled Ghostbusters sequel, so it will be nice to see him take a break from the franchise game and work on a smaller film like Death of a Unicorn.
Ortega has become a legitimate star thanks to her roles in the Netflix show Wednesday (2022) and the acclaimed horror sequels Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023). She’s slated to appear in Beetlejuice 2, in addition to four other untitled films with directors like Trey Edward Schults and Brian Helgeland. If any actress deserves the title of “It” girl right now, it’s Ortega.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the executive director of SAG-AFTRA, told Variety that he is actively encouraging actors to seek out projects that fall outside of the AMPTP. In his estimation, the ongoing success of independent studios like A24 undermines the AMPTP’s ability to dismiss SAG-AFTRA demands as “unrealistic,” in addition to proving that larger studios aren’t the only ones who can employ stars.
Death of a Unicorn has not yet been given a release date, but it’s scheduled to begin production very soon. We have a feeling it won’t disappoint.