The Big Picture

• Colin Farrell and Ben Stiller are set to star in the upcoming crime thriller Belly of the Beast directed by Andrew Haigh.
• The film follows the unlikely friendship between author Norman Mailer (Stiller) and his protégé Jack Henry Abbott (Farrell).
• Stay tuned for updates on the release date of Belly of the Beast and catch Farrell in the hit mystery series Sugar on Apple TV+.

As Apple TV's hit mystery drama series Sugar winds down, one of its leading stars has landed a role in another crime thriller. A new report from Deadline revealed that Colin Farrell and Ben Stiller will star in Belly of the Beast from director Andrew Haigh. Haigh recently wrote and directed the six-time BAFTA nominee All of Us Strangers, which stars Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott. The director will also write the sceenplay alongside Alexis Jolly, which is being adapted from Jerome Loving's Jack and Normal: A State-Raised Convict and the Legacy of Normal Mailer's "The Executioner's Song."

The film is being described as a true and timely story of unlikely friendship between notorious author Normal Mailer (Stiller) and his young protégé Jack Henry Abbott (Farrell). When Abbott is released on parole after spending nearly a decade in prison, he finds himself admired by the big-wigs of literary society under Mailer's mentorship, but has a tough time adjusting to life on the other side of the bars. Mailer eventually becomes jealous of his mentee, and drives Abbott to commit a horrible crime in a New York City diner. Colin and Claudine Farrell will produce the film, along with Alison Rosenzweig, Michael Gaeta, Jillian Apfelbaum, Tristen Tuckfield, and Nic Gordon.

What Has the ‘Belly of the Beast’ Cast Been in Recently?

It's been a busy few years for Farrell, who has broken off on quite a roll since starring opposite Barry Keoghan in The Killing of a Sacred Deer in 2017. Farrell teamed up with Keoghan once more in the 2022 film The Banshees of Inisherin, which was nominated for nine Oscars (including Farrell for Best Performance in a Leading Role), but didn't bring home any gold. He also ventured into comic book media, portraying The Penguin so forcefully in The Batman that he earned a spin-off series. As for Stiller, his time in front of the camera has declined slightly over the last several years, but that hasn't stopped him from finding success behind it. He was recently nominated for several Directing Emmys for his work on Severance, which recently wrapped filming for Season 2, and Escape at Dannemora, and also recently completed production on David Gordon Green's upcoming independent feature, Nutcrackers.

Belly of the Beast does not yet have an official release date. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates on the film and check out Farrell in Sugar, now streaming on Apple TV+.

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