Dwayne Johnson and Benny Safdie set ‘Lizard Music’ at United Artists

Lizard Music, a package reuniting star Dwayne Johnson and director Benny Safdie, has landed at Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists (UA). 

Johnson and Safdie previously collaborated on A24’s Venice festival premiere and current awards season contender The Smashing Machine, which won Safdie the festival’s Golden Lion for best director. 

Safdie will also write the Lizard Music script, based on the 1976 novel by children’s and young adult author Daniel Pinkwater. The film will follow a boy and a whimsical septuagenarian called Chicken Man (Johnson) on an adventure that helps them discover magic in what they find and each other. 

UA’s Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt will produce with Safdie, for Out for the Count Productions, Johnson, for Seven Bucks Productions, and David Koplan, for Magnetic Fields Entertainment. 

Amazon MGM Studios head of film, streaming and theatrical Courtenay Valenti commented: “We are so thrilled to partner once again with extraordinarily talented Dwayne Johnson, as well as work for the first time with the amazing creator, writer and director Benny Safdie, on Lizard Music. Everyone at Amazon MGM and UA is deeply inspired by their previous collaboration on the critically acclaimed The Smashing Machine. We are so excited to now collaborate with them on this imaginative, entertaining, and cinematic story; Lizard Music is a tale that feels both timeless and unique. We are very fortunate that they have trusted us to be their studio partners.” 

Stuber added: “I’ve been lucky enough to work with Dwayne and Benny on multiple projects and have seen firsthand their incredible talents and connection as artists. The world they’ve created together for Lizard Music is unlike anything either has done before, and we couldn’t be more excited to bring this wonderfully imaginative story to life.” 

Safdie said: “I couldn’t be more excited to go on this journey with Amazon MGM studios and United Artists. Lizard Music is a book I read to my two sons and we were riveted by its imagination and wonder. I love Daniel Pinkwater as a person and an author; the idea of making a movie where everyone can join the conversation is both thrilling and beautiful. To go on this adventure with Dwayne and to be able to watch him transform and become the Chicken Man is just beyond… I can’t wait!”

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