LaKeith Stanfield Exits ‘Molepeople’ as Ben Wheatley Replaces Rob Savage as Director
Paramount’s upcoming horror thriller Molepeople is undergoing a pair of significant creative changes, with LaKeith Stanfield exiting the project and filmmaker Ben Wheatley replacing Rob Savage as director.
According to Deadline, Stanfield is no longer attached to star in the film, while Savage has departed the director’s chair due to scheduling conflicts. No reason has been disclosed for Stanfield’s exit, though the departures are reportedly amicable.
Ben Mendelsohn, who was previously announced alongside Stanfield, remains attached to the project.
Molepeople follows a man who descends into the abandoned tunnels beneath New York City and discovers a disturbing society living below the streets. Paramount currently has the film scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release on August 27, 2027.
The changes arrive as the production had reportedly been preparing to begin filming in the United Kingdom as early as the end of November. It remains unclear whether Stanfield’s departure and the change in directors will affect that production timeline or Paramount’s planned 2027 release date.
Nathan Elston wrote the screenplay after previously collaborating with Savage on Other Mommy. Molepeople was initially developed independently, with Savage first announced as director in October 2024.
The project eventually moved to Paramount through Raphael Margules and J. D. Lifshitz, who had been attached as producers through BoulderLight Pictures before being selected to lead Paramount Primal, the studio’s genre-focused label.
Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Paramount Primal are co-financing and co-producing the film. Jason Blum is producing alongside Lifshitz, Margules and James Harris. Ryan Turek and Tracy Rosenblum serve as executive producers with Savage and Elston.
Wheatley takes over Molepeople following his work on the Bob Odenkirk-led action thriller Normal, which premiered in the Midnight section of the Toronto International Film Festival before its release through Magnolia Pictures.
The English filmmaker has worked extensively across horror, thriller and action, beginning his feature career with Down Terrace before directing Kill List, which received six British Independent Film Award nominations. His subsequent films have included Sightseers, A Field in England, High-Rise and Free Fire, the latter executive produced by Martin Scorsese.
Wheatley later directed Netflix’s adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and Warner Bros.’ Meg 2: The Trench.
Savage emerged as a prominent genre filmmaker with Host, the 2020 screenlife horror film released through Shudder and Vertigo Releasing. He followed the film with Dashcam and the Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman.
His latest film, Other Mommy, stars Jessica Chastain and is based on the novel by Josh Malerman. The Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Universal release opened atop the domestic box office during the weekend of October 9 and has approached $100 million worldwide, according to Deadline.
Stanfield, meanwhile, recently appeared in Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters and Neon’s The Wrong Girls. His upcoming projects include Warner Bros.’ F.A.S.T., written by Taylor Sheridan, and John Lee Hancock’s Monsanto project for Netflix.
With Wheatley now directing and Mendelsohn remaining aboard, the next major question for Molepeople will be who replaces Stanfield in the lead role and whether the creative changes affect the film’s previously reported production schedule.
For now, Paramount continues to date Molepeople for a worldwide theatrical release on August 27, 2027.
Comments