Sam Rockwell, Maisy Stella Cast in New Psychological Thriller ‘Tumor;
Sam Rockwell and Maisy Stella are, respectively, a veteran and a newly discovered star whose lead-actor chops in the drama genre are firmly established. “Tumor,” a planned psychological thriller (and adaptation of a graphic novel) in which they will co-star, promises to be far pulpier than the films in which they earned their stripes. At the same time, it should afford them ample opportunity to showcase their talents for portraying characters of great complexity and harrowing poignance.
A Neo-Noir PI Tale – with a Literal Tumor
“Tumor” will be a missing-kid mystery thriller delving into the seamy depths of Los Angeles – or, to be more precise, of Los Angeles’s glamorous echelons. Rockwell will play a humble private investigator hired to find the missing daughter of a wealthy political activist. Maisy Stella will play the daughter in question, and it seems that her whereabouts won’t remain mysterious for long: per the film’s official synopsis on Deadline, she and Rockwell’s private eye will go on the lam together, as “old memories blur with the present, dredging up dark secrets from his past.”
The title “Tumor” is not a mere metaphor for whatever figurative cancer may or may not be blossoming in the L.A. yuppie culture to which Stella’s character belongs. Rather, it is a reference to the actual cancerous growth that has reached its late stage in the brain of Sam Rockwell’s detective.
Neo-noir thrillers are often disorienting by nature (both for the audience and for the characters trying to piece together the mystery’s dark puzzle), but the Sam Rockwell character’s disease adds a whole new agonizing layer to this aesthetic. It’s the reason why he can no longer differentiate his old memories from his present-day experiences, and why his grip on reality is soon hanging by a thread.
A Graphic-Novel Adaptation by William Bridges
The film “Tumor” has been a long time coming. This haunting neo-noir thriller began as a graphic novel written by Joshua Hale Fialkov and published in 2010. That same year, a Variety article announced that a film adaptation was in the works from the newly founded production company Red Crown. This adaptation would have been helmed by director Samuel Bayer, who had made the 2010 remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” However, the planned film evidently fell through very quickly: it was never developed or discussed any further.
The forthcoming adaptation will be directed by Will Bridges. This will be his second feature-film directorial effort, following the 2024 romantic drama “All of You.” To Deadline, Bridges has professed that he was compelled by the story of “Tumor” upon reading the comic: “I was struck by its raw emotional intensity… The idea of a man unraveling his own past while racing against time – questioning what is real, what is his own mind and whether he can truly make amends – felt deeply compelling to me. This is a story about regret, second chances, and the way our past never really lets us go.”
Moreover, Bridges is clearly tremendously excited to be working with such fine actors as Sam Rockwell and Maisy Stella. Rockwell has been acclaimed for his performances in such dramas as “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (2017), “Vice” (2018), and “Richard Jewell” (2019), while Stella is a young actress who made a splash with her lead performance in last year’s coming-of-age dramedy “My Old Ass.” Bridges explained that working “with Sam Rockwell – a one-of-a-kind actor I’ll watch in anything and everything – and Maisy Stella, whose performance in My Old Ass made it my favorite film of that year, feels like a dream collaboration. I can’t wait to bring it to life on screen.”
