Ben Mendelsohn and Shailene Woodley Will Hunt a Serial Killer in Misanthrope

Villain specialist Ben Mendelsohn is setting aside his black hat to play an honest-to-god protagonist in upcoming thriller Misanthrope, alongside Shailene Woodley, Deadline reports. The Primetime Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee will be playing a cop assigned to a disturbing serial killer case, who receives help from Woodley’s character, “a talented but troubled cop who is recruited by the FBI to help profile and track a murderer.” The film is directed by Damian Szifron and was co-written by Szifron and Jonathan Wakeham, with shooting to begin within weeks.

Misanthrope has been in the works for a while, with news of it first surfacing in 2019, but the project finally seems to be moving forward. It will be interesting to see Mendelsohn in particular in a more valorous role, even if his Marvel Cinematic Universe character, the alien Skrull known as Talos, was eventually revealed to be a good guy. Mendelsohn has recently been filming the Marvel/Disney+ series Secret Invasion alongside Sam L. Jackson, in which he will return to that particular role, but he’s also been filming MGM’s Cyrano alongside Peter Dinklage and Brian Tyree Henry. Mendelsohn is nothing if not a very steady worker.

In recent years, however, it’s been quite a few villainous roles that have catapulted the actor to the top of pop-cultural consciousness, including lead antagonist roles in Rogue One, Ready Player One and 2018’s Robin Hood. Back in 2016, he won an Emmy for his role as Danny Rayburn on Netflix’s Bloodline, and received a Golden Globe nomination for the same role.

We’ll bring you more information on Misanthrope as it appears.