Omar Benson Miller will star alongside Tyrese Gibson in writer-director Deon Taylor’s horror film Don’t Open the Door, Deadline reports. Oscar-nominated producer Shannon McIntosh and NFL star Cameron “Cam” Heyward are partnering with Taylor and Roxanne Avent Taylor’s Hidden Empire Film Group to produce the film, with McIntosh producing through her own McIntosh Films banner and Heyward through his new Iron 97 Productions label. Ron Livingston and Beverly D’Angelo also star in the film.
Plot details remain under wraps, though the filmmakers have described the story as dealing with “real-world trauma.” Principal photography began last week in Mississippi, with Maxime Alexandre serving as cinematographer. The team is also developing a graphic novel-inspired universe intended to extend the story beyond the film itself.
Taylor’s casting choices bring together actors from markedly different genre backgrounds into a single horror ensemble: Livingston, known for The Conjuring, D’Angelo, known for American History X, and Miller, fresh off Sinners, alongside Gibson’s action-franchise pedigree from Fast & Furious. That mix reflects Taylor’s own track record of building horror and thriller projects around recognizable names from outside the genre’s usual casting pool, a pattern consistent with his previous films Fatale, Black and Blue, and The Intruder.
Taylor said in a statement that the ensemble’s performances are central to the film’s impact, crediting Livingston, D’Angelo, and Miller for bringing layers the story’s twisted narrative requires, alongside Gibson.
With production now underway and a transmedia universe already being planned around it, the next thing to watch is how much of the film’s “real-world trauma” framing becomes clear once more plot details emerge.