Emmy nominee Corey Hawkins (In the Heights, Straight Outta Compton) and Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe (Poor Things, The Lighthouse) are locked in a dangerous game in the tense first trailer for The Man in My Basement.
From Andscape, the Black content studio under The Walt Disney Company, the film will make its world premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Nadia Latif in her feature debut and adapted from Walter Mosley’s acclaimed novel, this psychological thriller unfolds in the historically African American neighborhood of Sag Harbor, New York.
Hawkins plays Charles Blakey, a man “out of work, out of luck and on the verge of foreclosure” on his ancestral home after his mother’s passing. Just when he’s out of options, a mysterious businessman, Anniston Bennet (Dafoe), arrives with an unsettling offer: rent the basement for the summer in exchange for enough money to wipe out his debts.
At first, Blakey refuses. But the promise of financial salvation proves too tempting — leading to a decision that forces him to confront his family’s ghosts and entangles both men in a sinister puzzle rooted in race, trauma, and the very definition of evil.
Anna Diop (Nanny, Titans), Jonathan Ajayi, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr., Pamela Nomvete, and Tamara Lawrance round out the cast. Mosley co-wrote the screenplay with Latif, and producers include Diane Houslin, John Giwa-Amu, Len Rowlands, and Dave Bishop. Originally, Jonathan Majors was set to star and executive produce the film but was dropped in April 2023 following his assault charge.
The Man in My Basement arrives in select theaters September 12, followed by a Hulu and Disney+ release this fall.