EXCLUSIVE: Jonathan Majors is set to star in Mark Brown’s political thriller Dinner at Nick’s.
The pic, which the Barbershop film franchise creator wrote and will direct, unfolds over the course of a single dinner in the weeks following the 2024 presidential election.
After the shocking results of the 2024 election, seven friends split between Black Democrats and Black Republicans gather for dinner to debate American politics, striving to find common ground over food, drinks, and laughter. What begins as an intimate gathering quickly turns into a pressure cooker of political, cultural, and generational tensions as civil discourse gives way to fiery debate. Old friendships are tested when discussions about race, gender, and political stance expose raw nerves and deep divisions. By the final course, the real question is no longer who is right or wrong, but whether common ground can still be found as the group ultimately face life and death decisions and spiral toward political violence.
“I’m truly excited to be working with an actor as gifted as Jonathan. The scope, depth, and raw intensity he brings to every performance will no doubt leave audiences completely captivated as he has left me, several times during rehearsal,” Brown said.
“Dinner at Nick’s came about as a result of hearing and often participating in several conversations with family and close friends following the 2024 elections as so many people were trying to process how they felt,” Brown said. “Those conversations proved that politics is more than skin deep and African Americans differ in politics as they differ in shades of brown.”
The film will be produced by Jonah Hirsch (Resistance 1942 and “First) AJ Munoz and Manny Hailey. The independent film is scheduled to shoot early summer.
“Mark Brown has a unique voice that challenges and pushes the conversation on politics and race. He has written a very honest and daring script. This is a very timely film that needs to be told, especially now, in the new reality we find ourselves in,” said Hirsch
During early conversations about bringing Dinner at Nick’s to the screen, Brown frequently returned to a quote by Amiri Baraka: “The artist’s role is to raise the consciousness of the people, to make them understand life, the world, and themselves more completely.”
Dinner at Nick’s follows Majors’ booking on the Kyle Rankin directed Daily Wire action film. Majors and co-star JC Kilcoyne accidentally tumbled out of a window while filming a scene during a production. The Emmy nominated actor is also set to star in the supernatural revenge thriller Merciless from Martin Villeneuve.
In the midst of a successful career year for Majors between Creed III, the Sundance critically acclaimed premiere of Magazine Dream, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the actor was charged with assaulting his then girlfriend in 2023, and ultimately found guilty; his career stalling. She would then drop a federal lawsuit against Majors in which she accused him of assault and defamation. The actor has been rebuilding since.
Majors is repped by WME.
