I almost hate to admit this, but I have never really been a big fan of the fantasy genre — specifically the traditional, “medieval” epics in the style of HBO’s Games of Thrones. However, the genre has sometimes managed to amuse me and, typically, with films or TV shows that incorporate certain recognizable fantasy elements into a more modern setting. As such, one of the upcoming A24 movies that I am looking most forward to is Death of a Unicorn.
The intriguing way that the film is putting a fresh, unusual spin on a classic fairy tale creature is not the only reason it has my attention. It also boasts a stellar cast led by Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, is produced in part by one of the most creative minds working in the industry today, and has a living legend at work on the musical score. Plus, if it is anywhere near as good as any of the great A24 movies we’ve seen before, it should be a truly magical experience. Let’s go over all the basic things to know about Death of a Unicorn so far.
What Is The Death Of A Unicorn Release Date?
Much like the mysterious qualities of its eponymous mythological being, when we can expect Death of a Unicorn to hit theaters is unknown. At the moment, no official release date has been announced and the official A24 website does not even have a page for it yet. We will be sure to let you know when that moment comes, however.
Paul Rudd And Jenna Ortega Lead The Death Of A Unicorn Cast
As established, the Death of a Unicorn cast is stacked with big names — including a few A24 veterans and a number of big names making their debut collaborations with the company. Let’s go over who Deadline reported is confirmed to appear in the film.
Paul Rudd
Starring in his very first A24 project is Paul Rudd, who has dealt with some fantastic circumstances in some of his more recent efforts — such as in the MCU as Ant-Man and when he took over the Ghostbusters franchise. The actor first gained notoriety, however, with comedies like Wet Hot American Summer and Judd Apatow movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and, considering how Death of a Unicorn is being called a dark fantasy comedy, this film seems right up his alley.
Jenna Ortega
Starring as the daughter of Paul Rudd’s character is Jenna Ortega, who previously starred in one of the best A24 horror movies, X, in 2022. That was also the year she started gaining traction as one of the top Scream Queens of her generation for joining the Scream franchise and playing the title role in the Wednesday cast for Netflix.
Richard E. Grant
A Death of a Unicorn cast member already well-versed in comedy, fantasy, and a mix of both is Richard E. Grant — known for his acclaimed debut in 1987’s Withnail & I, spooky family movies The Little Vampire and Corpse Bride, and the bizarre 1989 satire, How to Get Ahead in Advertising. His more recent notable works include earning an Oscar nomination for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, also joining the MCU as a Loki variant, and starring in Saltburn.
Téa Leoni
The lead of CBS’ hit political drama, Madam Secretary, was the last major acting role for Teá Leoni, whose most notable big screen credits include Wyatt Earp, 1995’s Bad Boys, Deep Impact, and Spanglish. The actor has also encountered otherworldly circumstances in films like The Family Man, the third installment of the Jurassic Park movies, and 2008’s Ghost Town.
Will Poulter
Another MCU star in the Death of a Unicorn cast is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s Adam Warlock actor, Will Poulter, who also has a previous A24 horror flick under his belt — 2019’s Midsommar. The English actor has also shown his impressive versatility in the titles like the 2013 comedy, We’re the Millers, acclaimed period dramas The Revenant and Detroit, Hulu’s Emmy-winning fact-based miniseries Dopesick, and more.
Anthony Carrigan
Anthony Carrigan is best known for his three-time Emmy-nominated role in HBO’s Barry as NoHo Hank. His most notable feature-length roles include a robot named Dennis Caleb McRoy in Bill & Ted Face the Music and a good friend to Kevin Hart’s character in Netflix’s 2021 dramedy, Fatherhood.
Sunita Mani
One of the more experienced A24 veterans in the Death of a Unicorn cast is Sunita Mani, who was in Daniel Scheinert’s 2019 dramedy The Death of Dick Long before reuniting with him (along with Daniel Kwan) for a cameo in the Best Picture Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All At Once in 2022 and appearing in You Hurt My Feelings the following year. The comedian is also known for Netflix’s GLOW, the 2020 horror-comedy Save Yourselves!, and played the Ghost of Christmas Past in Apple TV+’s Spirited.
Jessica Hynes
Fans of Simon Pegg’s work should recognize Jessica Hynes from the acclaimed British sitcom, Spaced, and her brief role in the horror-comedy classic, Shaun of the Dead. The actor and writer also has some notable fantasy roles up her sleeve, including in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and another kids movie the whole family will love: Paddington 2.
Stephen Park
Those who may not recognize Stephen Park by name surely know his work, which includes older Oscar darlings like Do the Right Thing and great Coen Brothers movies such as Fargo and A Serious Man. He more recently starred in Wes Anderson movies The French Dispatch and Asteroid City, and is reuniting with his Snowpiercer director, Bong Joon-ho for the upcoming sci-fi thriller, Mickey 17.
A Dark Comedy About A Father And Daughter’s Tragic Encounter With A Fantasy Creature
You could likely guess from the title that Death of a Unicorn involves a certain relatively well-known animal existing in fantasy lore that meets an untimely fate. According to KFTV, the plot is even more complicated and oddly grounded than its basic gist.
The titular tragedy is caused when Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega’s characters (a father and daughter) accidentally hit it while driving to a conference involving a discussion of crisis management in the workplace. While there, the boss of Rudd’s character and his family get their hands on the unicorn and discover it has special purposes which they intend to benefit from.
Death Of A Unicorn Is Alex Scharfman’s Directorial Debut
Death of a Unicorn is the first feature-length film from writer and director Alex Scharfman, but it is not his first collaboration with A24, as it turns out. He is credited on IMDb as a production executive for 2015’s The Witch, American Honey from the following year, and Backstabbing for Beginners from 2018. He also served as a producer for the 2019 Amazon Original crime dramedy, Blow the Man Down, and one of the best horror movies of 2022, the Rebecca Hall-led Resurrection.
Scharfman is also one of the producers of Death of a Unicorn, alongside another artist who has also worked with A24 in the past: Ari Aster. The filmmaker has quickly become one of the most acclaimed and feared names in horror for delivering relentlessly brutal, deeply unsettling, and endlessly fascinating thrills with films like 2018’s Hereditary, the aforementioned Midsommar, and his most recent, Golden Globe-nominated, epic absurdist odyssey, Beau is Afraid, from 2023.
John Carpenter Is Composing The Score
Ari Aster is not the only horror auteur working on Death of a Unicorn as the one and only John Carpenter is also involved, but not quite in the way you might have expected. The director of some of the greatest horror movies of all time, including Halloween and The Thing, is the film’s composer.
According to Bloody-Disgusting, Carpenter is working on the score with his son, Cody, and Daniel Davies — a rock god in his own right as a member of bands like Year Long Disaster and rock royalty, being the son of The Kinks guitarist, Dave Davies. Cody and Davies previously collaborated on the music for each of David Gordon Green’s Halloween movies with Carpenter, who has also composed the scores for much of his filmography, with notable exceptions including Ennio Morricone’s The Thing score.
The Film Was Cleared To Shoot During The Actors’ And Writers’ Strikes
While we still do not know when Death of a Unicorn is set to come out, we believe that its chances of appearing on our upcoming 2024 movies schedule are pretty good. Reason being: it was able to complete principal photography in Hungary in mid-2023 while the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes were still taking place.
How is this possible? According to a report by Variety, SAG-AFTRA approved several independent production to continue shooting without violating picket line — two of which were A24 titles, Mother Mary and Death of a Unicorn. The production company is not part of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which is the organization both the writing and acting guilds were striking against out of demand for fairer wages, among other requests.
Are you as excited for A24’s Death of Unicorn as I am? If so, be sure to check back here for further updates.