Max Minghella, Flea, Samara Weaving Join Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie in ‘Babylon’
Damien Chazelle’s 1920s Hollywood drama also adds Lukas Haas and P.J. Byrne, among a host of others.
![Max Minghella Flea Samara Weaving](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/3-split_169_template-3-copy-2.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1)
Damien Chazelle’s tale of the golden age of Hollywood, Babylon, boasts a sprawling cast as it heads into production later in June.
Max Minghella, Lukas Haas, Flea, Rory Scovel, Samara Weaving, Eric Roberts, P.J. Byrne and Damon Gupton have joined the Paramount period drama written by Chazelle, who will also direct.
The actors join Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Diego Calva, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Katherine Waterston.
Set in the late 1920s during the movie industry’s transition from silent films to talkies, Babylon explores the rise and fall of multiple characters.
![Diego Calva and Damien Chazelle](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Diego-Calva-and-Damien-Chazelle-Split-H-2021-1615910845.jpg?w=300)
The story features both fictional and historical characters. While most of the new additions’ roles are being kept in the canister, it is believed that Minghella is playing Irving Thalberg, the famous producer who was MGM’s head of production in the 1920s and 1930s and after whom the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award, given by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, is named.
The picture will shoot in Los Angeles and Paramount is planning a platformed release, opening it limitedly Dec. 25, 2022, before going wide Jan. 6, 2023.
Olivia Hamilton, Matt Plouffe and Marc Platt are producing. Tobey Maguire, Helen Estabrook and Adam Siegel will executive produce.
Minghella is one of the stars of The Handmaid’s Tale, currently in the middle of its fourth season and in the Emmy conversation. The actor is also on the big screen in Chris Rock’s Saw reboot, Spiral.
Flea is the bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers who occasionally appears in movies. He has appeared in Queen & Slim, Boy Erased and Baby Driver.
Weaving starred in horror breakout Ready or Not and portrays G.I. Joe character Scarlett in Paramount’s upcoming action thriller Snake Eyes, based on the Hasbro toy line. She is also shooting The Valet opposite Eugenio Derbez for Lionsgate.