The Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions is teaming with LAIKA on a live-action feature adaptation of Audition, the Booker Prize-longlisted novel by Katie Kitamura, with Lucy Liu (Kill Bill) and Charles Melton (May December) on board to star.
Lulu Wang (The Farewell) will direct from her own script written with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok (Preparation for the Next Life, Cost of Living). Higher Ground and LAIKA will produce the film in association with Wang’s Local Time banner.
Published earlier this year by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, Audition is described as a twisty thriller that follows a celebrated actress enjoying a charmed, bohemian life in Manhattan with her creative husband. Things take a turn when a mysterious young man appears, claiming to be her long-lost son. What begins as a misguided reunion spirals into an enthralling mystery about identity, guilt, and the roles we perform.
President Barack Obama, who founded Higher Ground with Michelle Obama, comes to the project after highlighting Audition in his 2025 Summer reading list, declaring the book a “quiet novel about the ways we hide our true selves from others – and ourselves.”
Vinnie Malhotra and Anikah McLaren will produce for Higher Ground, alongside Laika’s Travis Knight and Matt Levin, and Wang. Liu, Laika’s Jeremy Kipp Walker, and author Kitamura will serve as exec producers.
Breaking out with her sophomore feature The Farewell, starring Awkwafina, which she wrote and directed for A24, Wang is coming off of work on Expats, the Prime Video series starring Nicole Kidman, which adapted the bestseller by Janice Y.K. Lee. She served as showrunner, writer, and director of all six episodes. Upcoming, she’s also set to produce two projects for Searchlight: Again Again Again, from writer Joel Kim Booster, and Greta Lee’s directorial debut The Eyes Are the Best Part.
Seen in films that have grossed over $3.7 billion worldwide, Liu’s best known projects include Kill Bill, Charlie’s Angels, Chicago, Presence, and Red One. Her recent work includes starring in and producing Rosemead, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival and won Best Narrative at the Bentonville Film Festival, where she was honored with the Rising To The Challenge Award.
Scoring a Gotham Award and other accolades for his breakout starring role opposite Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in Todd Haynes’ Netflix pic May December, Melton has since been seen in the ensemble of Alex Garland’s Warfare for A24. He recently wrapped production on Nicolas Winding Refn’s Neon film My Own Private Hell, will next be seen starring in the anticipated second season of Netflix’s Beef, and just signed on to star opposite Rachel Brosnahan and Will Poulter in Netflix’s Saturn Return.
Since Higher Ground’s debut film American Factory won the 2019 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, the company has produced titles including Sam Esmail’s apocalyptic thriller Leave the World Behind, which currently sits at #8 on Netflix’s Most Popular Movies List, as well as Rustin, American Symphony, Crip Camp, Fatherhood, Becoming, and Worth.
Best known for its work in stop-motion animation, Laika has scored Oscar nominations for films including Missing Link, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, and Coraline. Currently in production on its next animated film Wildwood, the studio is also developing animated features including The Night Gardener and Piranesi. Projects percolating on the live-action front include action thriller Seventeen, Crumble from filmmaker Brian Duffield and Lord Miller, an original from Oscar-nominated Dune scribe Jon Spaihts, and an adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new novel Atmosphere from filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
Higher Ground and LAIKA are both represented by CAA, as are Wang and Local Time, Majok, Liu, and Melton. Wang and Local Time are managed by Redefine Entertainment. Majok is also repped by Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment; Liu by Framework Entertainment; and Melton by 111 Media and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Kitamura is with Trident Media Group and Anonymous Content.
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