Willem Dafoe and Corey Hawkins Face Off in Walter Mosley’s The Man in the Basement

First look at Corey Hawkins and Willem Dafoe in Nadia Latif’s chilling adaptation of Walter Mosley’s The Man in the Basement.

We’ve just gotten a gripping first look at The Man in the Basement, a psychological thriller from director Nadia Latif, based on the novel by Walter Mosley (Devil in a Blue Dress). Starring Corey Hawkins and Willem Dafoe, the film explores what happens when desperation meets the unexpected—and sinister.

Hawkins plays Charles Blakey, a man down on his luck and nearing foreclosure on his family’s ancestral home in Sag Harbor, New York. When a mysterious businessman named Anniston Bennet (Dafoe) arrives with an irresistible offer—cash in exchange for renting out the basement for the summer—Charles agrees, setting off a chilling chain of events. What begins as a simple transaction quickly unravels into a twisted psychological puzzle rooted in generational trauma, race, and buried truths.

The Man in the Basement also stars Anna Diop, Jonathan Ajayi, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr., Pamela Nomvete, and Tamara Lawrance.

The film will hit theaters and stream on Hulu this fall, with a theatrical release set for August. Check out the newly released trailer and first-look images, and prepare for a haunting descent into the past.

In the African American neighborhood of Sag Harbor, New York, Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins) is out of work, out of luck and on the verge of foreclosure on his ancestral home. A knock on the door from a mysterious businessman, Anniston Bennet (Willem Dafoe), brings a bizarre and lucrative proposition; rent his dusty stand-up basement out for the summer and receive enough money to clear his debts for good. Once Charles accepts, he finds himself led down a terrifying path that confronts his family’s ghosts and locks the men in a terrifying puzzle, at the heart of it race, the source of their traumas and the root of all evil.

DIRECTED BY: Nadia Latif

SCREENPLAY BY: Walter Mosley & Nadia Latif

CAST: Corey Hawkins, Willem Dafoe, Anna Diop, Jonathan Ajayi, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr., Pamela Nomvete, Tamara Lawrance

PRODUCERS: Produced by Diane Houslin p.g.a, John Giwa-Amu p.g.a. Producers Dave

Bishop, Len Rowlands p.g.a.