Lakeith Stanfield Joins Adam Sandler in Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems for A24

Atlanta and Sorry to Bother You star Lakeith Stanfield is set to join previously announced star Adam Sandler in the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems, per Deadline.

Set in the Diamond District of New York City, Uncut Gems will follow Sandler as a jewelry store owner juggling a gambling addiction with two relationships and mounting debts, with Stanfield playing a key ally to one of the store’s famous clients. Eric Bogosian and Judd Hirsch are also set to star, although casting is still underway.

Josh and Ben Safdie will direct, as well as share writing credits with long-time collaborator Ronald Bronstein. Martin Scorsese and Emma Tillinger Koskoff will serve as executive producers, with Lady Bird’s Scott Rudin and Eli Bush, along with Sebastian Bear-McClard and Oscar Boyson as producers. A24 will handle U.S. distribution, while Netflix will distribute internationally, though this project isn’t part of Sandler’s movie deal with the platform.

There’s plenty of potential for something great with all the talent involved. A24 couldn’t quite turn the Safdies’ last film, the 2017 Flushing-set crime thriller Good Time, into the breakout box office hit that it deserved to be, but that film brought out a career-best performance from Robert Pattinson and elevated the Safdies’ profile following their 2015 breakthrough, Heaven Knows What. Sandler, who successfully recaptured some of his everyman appeal as directed by Noah Baumbach in last year’s The Meyerowitz Stories, should also serve as a compelling foil to an oddball performer like Stanfield.

Coming up, Stanfield has The Girl in the Spider’s Web later this year, in addition to Legendary’s Prince of Cats graphic novel adaptation and the Netflix romantic comedy Someone Great, also starring Rosario Dawson, Brittany Snow and Gina Rodriguez.

Keep your eye out for more updates on Uncut Gems.