AppleTV+ is intent to scoop up as many high profile original movies as possible, and for the most part they’ve been big budget efforts with A-list stars in the lead roles, but the streaming service evidently isn’t opposed to the idea of acquiring smaller, character-driven pieces as well.
Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke, both of whom are currently filming shows for a rival platform thanks to Disney Plus duo Obi-Wan Kenobi and Moon Knight, are partnering up to play siblings in Raymond and Ray. The pair will star as half brothers that have spent their lives living in the shadow of their terrible father, but each man has retained a sense of humor, which indicates the project could be heading down the dark comedy route.
At their old man’s funeral, Raymond and Ray seize an opportunity to reinvent themselves, and the brief logline provided has tantalizingly teased anger, pain, folly, love and even grave-digging. Television veteran Rodrigo Garcia, who has episodes of The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, In Treatment and more under his belt, will write and direct, with four-time Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón listed as one of the producers.
McGregor and Hawke are both fantastic actors with the right material, and it’s not difficult to buy into the idea of them playing brothers. They’ve each built their careers on alternating between studio-driven genre movies and smaller independent projects, something that’s served them equally well over the last quarter of a century, so Raymond and Ray is definitely one worth keeping an eye on as it progresses.