Shubhabrata Dutta
Ethan Hawke, Austin Amelio, and Julia Jones have reportedly been cast in Padraic McKinley’s next feature, titled ‘Happy Going Nowhere,’ AKA ‘Hustle.’ The report comes on the heels of the release announcement of McKinley’s feature directorial debut, ‘The Weight,’ which will arrive in theaters on September 18, 2026. It also features the above-mentioned trio. Filming will take place in San Francisco, California, starting this November. The writer has yet to be revealed.
The story of ‘Happy Going Nowhere’ follows two young hustlers who are caught in an endless cycle of addiction and prostitution and decide to blackmail an elderly client of theirs. Donny and Big Rich want to film Gabriel Thaxton with their cell phones during a sexual act and put the video up on YouTube. Little do they know, the man they’ve chosen, a high-profile San Francisco defense attorney, is already being blackmailed by someone more sinister: an ex-client of the lawyers. A murderous speed freak named Dustin has already permeated the attorney’s life, and Dustin has plans for the old man.
Ethan Hawke was last seen as Lee Raybon in FX’s neo-Western drama series ‘The Lowdown,’ which has been renewed for a second season and is currently filming. Before that, he reprised the role of the serial killer Grabber in ‘Black Phone 2.’ We will next see him in ‘The Weight,’ making ‘Happy Going Nowhere’ his second collaboration with McKinley. The Golden Globe winner has also been cast in Michael Almereyda’s upcoming romantic movie ‘Tonight at Noon’, co-starring Lauren Ambrose and Chiwetel Ejiofor. The movie has completed post-production, and a release date is awaited.
Austin Amelio is best known as Dwight from AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Fear the Walking Dead.’ We also saw him as Nesbit in Richard Linklater’s comedy movie ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ and Jasper in the action movie ‘Hit Man,’ starring Glen Powell and Adria Arjona. Amelio’s latest project was Damian McCarthy’s horror movie ‘Hokum,’ in which he played Conquistador, the lead character in protagonist Ohm Bauman’s (Adam Scott) novel trilogy. Besides ‘The Weight,’ we will next see him alongside Hawke in ‘The Lowdown’ Season 2 and Ron Howard’s USAF John A. Chapman biopic ‘Alone at Dawn.’
Julia Jones played Leah Clearwater in ‘The Twilight Saga’ film series, perhaps her most famous portrayal. However, her portrayals of Police Chief Angela Bishop in Showtime’s ‘Dexter: New Blood’ and Stephanie in Prime Video’s ‘Goliath’ are also well-known. Her other credits include Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Wind River,’ ‘Rutherford Falls,’ ‘Think Like a Dog,’ and ‘Cold Pursuit.’ We last saw her in the Netflix sports movie ‘Rez Ball,’ and her immediate upcoming project is ‘The Weight.’
Before directing ‘The Weight,’ Padraic McKinley worked on several projects as an editor, some of which are ‘Lie to Me,’ ‘Happy Town,’ ‘Life Unexpected,’ ‘Playing for Keeps,’ ‘Homefront,’ ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,’ ‘Wheelman,’ ‘The Good Lord Bird,’ and ‘Tin Soldier.’ He is also the editor of ‘The Weight.’
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