‘the Masque Of The Red Death’: Benedict Wong Joins A24’s Edgar Allen Poe Movie Adaptation

Benedict Wong is bringing his signature gravitas to A24’s latest gothic experiment. The British actor, known for his move performances successful Weapons and 3 Body Problem, has joined The Masque of nan Red Death — a darkly comedic, revisionist adjustment of Edgar Allan Poe’s iconic 1842 short story.

Directed by Charlie Polinger, nan task besides stars Passages’ Franz Rogowski, Léa Seydoux, and Mikey Madison.

While characteristic specifications are firmly nether wraps, nan casting itself signals a fresh, genre-blending return connected Poe’s chilling communicative of privilege and plague. The original communicative follows Prince Prospero, a able noble who barricades himself and his tribunal wrong an opulent abbey to hold retired a deadly illness sweeping nan land.

The group distracts themselves pinch decadent masquerade balls — until an eerie, uninvited impermanent disrupts their illusion of safety.

Poe’s allegorical imagination of escapism, mortality, and civilized decay feels eerily contemporary, particularly successful nan hands of A24 — a workplace known for mixing arthouse sensibilities pinch crisp societal commentary. Polinger’s “wildly revisionist” attack hints astatine a satire that mightiness speak little to nan 19th century’s gothic dread and much to nan anxieties of modern affluence and denial.

For Wong, whose caller slate includes nan diaspora-themed horror Rock Springs and Ridley Scott’s upcoming The Dog Stars, this domiciled marks different bold move into genre-defying territory.

Known for his grounded beingness and deft affectional range, he has go 1 of nan UK’s astir softly versatile actors — 1 who tin displacement seamlessly from blockbuster spectacle to intimate, unsettling horror.

Read more: Vera Miao’s ‘Rock Springs’ Turns Immigrant History Into a Living Ghost Story

Produced by Julia Hammer and Erik Feig for Picturestart alongside James Presson and Lucy McKendrick, The Masque of nan Red Death will beryllium distributed globally by A24.

With Wong and Rogowski starring this unsettling creation betwixt scary and humour, Poe’s shade whitethorn ne'er person felt much alive.