Chris Rock has made plenty of people laugh at the movies. This time, he is asking audiences to follow him somewhere different.
Misty Green, written and directed by Rock, who also co-stars and produces, is his first feature behind the camera since 2014’s Top Five. While there is still humor, Misty Green is primarily a drama — and a considerably more layered film than audiences accustomed to Rock’s broad comedies might expect.
Rock has stayed busy onscreen, appearing in films including Rustin, Amsterdam and the horror movie Spiral. His more commercial work includes the Grown Ups and Madagascar franchises. But directing has been much less frequent. Before Top Five, he directed Head of State and I Think I Love My Wife.
Misty Green is his first directing effort in 12 years — and Rock clearly has something riding on it.
Made for roughly $5 million, less than any of his previous films, Rock has called it a “tiny” movie. He told Variety he wants the people who backed it to get their money back and hopes it performs well enough that A24 asks what he wants to direct next.
That makes audience turnout important.
Misty Green begins a limited theatrical release Oct. 9, which means it won’t automatically arrive on thousands of screens. With limited releases, early ticket sales can influence how long a movie stays in theaters and whether it expands into additional markets.
So if Misty Green reaches your city, this may not be the movie to wait three weeks to see.
At the center of Rock’s story is Rosalind Eleazar, a 38-year-old British actress best known in the United States for Apple TV’s Slow Horses. This is her first major film lead.
Misty is a former Emmy-winning actress whose career has fallen apart. She is nearly broke, facing eviction and trying desperately to land another role while caring for her troubled brother, played by Daniel Kaluuya. Adam Driver, Anna Kendrick and Topher Grace also star.
The problem is that Misty repeatedly gets in her own way. She is talented — she can act and sing — but she’s impulsive, angry and has burned plenty of bridges. Rock plays a director who knows both sides of her: the difficult woman he once fired and the gifted performer underneath it all.
For Eleazar, it was the kind of complicated role actresses hope will come along. She has called Misty a dream role and said roles like it may come only once in a lifetime. She wanted it badly enough that, after troublesome Zoom auditions from London, she flew herself to Los Angeles for an in-person audition. Rock said other actresses and singers had been considered, but Eleazar was simply the best.
There is still unmistakable Chris Rock humor. His director character delivers one particularly Rock-like observation: “All civil rights movies suck, you wanna know how I know? Because white people like them!”
But the laughs sit inside a story about talent, failure, family, race, Hollywood and a woman you want to cheer for — even as she keeps making that difficult.
The film had its world premiere Sept. 12 at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Eleazar emerged as one of the festival’s breakout performers and entered early awards-season conversation. It next plays the New York Film Festival, including an Oct. 4 screening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Rock spent years getting Misty Green made and 12 years away from directing a feature. He says success to him would be getting the opportunity to make another one.
Audiences have a role in that.
Misty Green, rated R and running about 1 hour, 44 minutes, begins its theatrical rollout Oct. 9 through A24. If it comes to a theater near you — and you want to see more films like it get made — go early. Opening audiences can help determine what happens next.
AI assisted