Kid Cudi, Natasha Lyonne To Star In ‘Pathetic Fallacy’ Thriller

EXCLUSIVE: Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi (Ti West’s X trilogy) has wrapped a lead role opposite Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day), Travis Fimmel (Vikings) and Natasha Lyonne (Poker Face) in Pathetic Fallacy, an indie supernatural thriller from director Adam Egypt Mortimer (Daniel Isn’t Real).

Written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (Transformers One, Ant-Man and the Wasp), Pathetic Fallacy follows a young widower to a new-age mountain town in search of cosmic answers and a chance to heal. When he arrives, he instead finds an outlandish murderer and a forest of demonic spirits who offer a horrific bargain: the power to cheat death at a nightmarish cost.

A psychedelic tale of love, death and loss, shot on 35mm, Pathetic Fallacy is produced by Steven Schneider (The Long Walk, Strange Darling) through Room 101, alongside K. Asher Levin and Ronnie Exley through Rabbits Black, Karina Manashil through Mad Solar, Chris Wilkinson from Hadron, Aria Moffly and Ashleigh Snead.

Exec producers include Mescudi, Hayk Sarkissian, Michael Porter and Luke Parsons for Still Point Productions, Barrer and Ferrari through Lovesick Pictures, as well as Jeremy Ross, Ryan Marchant, and Eloise Cameron-Smith. Co-producers include Chuka Ejorh and Keji Ajayi, with George Bennett serving as co-executive producer.

The film features an original score and music by Johnny Jewel and original songs by Cudi, who told us, “This script gutted me. I’ve never read anything like it. It’s raw, it’s surreal, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s asking me to go places I’ve never gone as an actor. That’s terrifying and thrilling. I couldn’t walk away from it.”

“There’s a strange alchemy to a script that can be this funny and this devastating at the same time, and that’s exactly what pulled me in,” shared Lyonne. “Adam is building something genuinely unhinged and tender all at once.”

Mortimer told Deadline, “Bringing Andrew and Gabe’s horrific, tragic, funny script to life is a once in a lifetime project. Together, Kid Cudi and Jessica Rothe create an emotional world that’s a nightmare for their characters and a dream for me to direct. It was magical for us all to collaborate on epic song sequences with synth maestro Johnny Jewel. This is Cudi’s first starring role and what an honor to witness his deep commitment and courage to push his emotions to the brink. At the risk of overpromising, Pathetic Fallacy is going to blow minds, melt faces, and empty tear ducts.”

Mescudi is an actor and Grammy-winning musical artist whose recent screen credits include Happy Gilmore 2, M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, Paramount+’s Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off series Knuckles and John Woo’s Silent Night. Upcoming, he stars opposite Willow Smith in the animated feature Slime from Jeron Braxton. He is repped by Three Six Zero, Brillstein, Levine Plotkin & Menin, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.

Rothe’s credits include the Happy Death Day horror franchise, La La Land and the Netflix medical drama Pulse. She is repped by UTA, Brillstein, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.

Known for starring in History Channel’s Vikings, Fimmel has most recently been seen in HBO Max’s Dune: Prophecy, as well as the crime drama Black Snow for Australia’s Stan. He is repped by Paradigm, Entertainment 360, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.

An Emmy and Golden Globe nominee, Lyonne has most recently been seen starring in Rian Johnson’s Peacock series Poker Face, which she also exec produced. Next up, she’ll be seen opposite Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams in Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun, a Sony adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel, out October 23. She is repped by CAA.

Perhaps best known for the horror film Daniel Isn’t Real, starring Miles Robbins, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sasha Lane, Mortimer is repped by 3 Arts and Brillstein.

Barrer & Ferrari are repped by WME, 3 Arts, and Toczek Sudleson.