Jonathan Majors’ career was on a meteoric rise. He co-starred in Creed III, he was cast as the lead villain (Kang the Conqueror) in the latest phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his performance in the short-lived HBO series Lovecraft Country, and there was talk that the film Magazine Dreams, which he starred in, could be an Oscar contender. Then Majors was arrested for physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend and found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of assault and harassment. He was sentenced to a 52-week in-person domestic violence intervention program, fired by Marvel, and distributor Searchlight Pictures removed Magazine Dreams from their release schedule and returned the rights to the filmmakers. But we haven’t heard the last of Jonathan Majors. He’s working on re-building his career, and Deadline reports that, as the first step in this endeavor, he has signed on to star in the supernatural revenge thriller Merciless, which is set to be directed by Martin Villeneuve, the younger brother of filmmaker Denis Villeneuve. Martin Villeneuve previously directed the sci-fi fantasy Mars and April and the comedy drama The 12 Tasks of Imelda.
Written by Frank Hannah, Merciless will follow a top CIA interrogator, who after the woman he loves is overtaken by a malevolent force, is forced to go even darker to defeat it.
Filming is set to take place in Saskatchewan this fall. The project was developed by producer Christopher Tuffin, who is working on a new global media venture that’s meant to have a disruptive nature and “refuses to let the court of public opinion and selective prosecution undermine great art and artists.” Tuffin said, “In graduate school, I had the good fortune to study screenwriting under Blacklist scribe Millard Lampell and learned from him the dangers of letting politics undermine due process and deprive artists of their careers. I consider it an honor and a privilege to be working with Jonathan who is such a great talent now that this matter has been adjudicated.“
Martin Villeneuve added, “Merciless intertwines themes of possession, revenge, and personal justice within a haunting narrative. It explores the psychological descent of John, played by Majors, and the supernatural forces challenging his sanity.“
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