Higher Ground and LAIKA Partner on Live Action Feature Film Audition; Lulu Wang to Direct With Lucy Liu and Charles Melton Starring
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Wang and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok Will Adapt Katie Kitamura’s Booker Prize Longlisted Novel
HILLSBORO, Ore. & LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Higher Ground Productions and LAIKA have set a live action feature film adaptation of Audition (Penguin Random House imprint Riverhead Books, 2025), the Booker Prize-longlisted novel by Katie Kitamura.
Lulu Wang (The Farewell) will direct and write the adaptation alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok, with Lucy Liu and Charles Melton set to star. Higher Ground and LAIKA will produce the film in association with Wang’s production company Local Time.
Audition is a twisty thriller that follows a celebrated actress enjoying a charmed, bohemian life in Manhattan with her creative husband. That is until 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, included 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.”
“Katie Kitamura’s Audition is a masterfully crafted psychological thriller that explores the complex layers of identity and performance,” said Higher Ground’s Head of Film Anikah McLaren. “We’re thrilled to partner with LAIKA and Lulu, an incredibly talented and poignant filmmaker, to adapt this compelling narrative about family, deception, and self-discovery.”
“At LAIKA, we are always seeking out bold, emotional, and inventive stories, and Katie Kitamura’s Audition is exactly that,” said Matt Levin, President of Live Action Film & Series. “Lulu Wang is a brilliant and daring filmmaker we've long admired, and her unique vision and Higher Ground’s commitment to powerful storytelling make them the perfect partners to bring this extraordinary novel to the screen.”
“Bringing Katie Kitamura’s Audition to the screen is a thrilling challenge,” said Wang. “What makes it feel possible, and electrifying, is working with Lucy Liu and Charles Melton. They’re both such magnetic performers and I can’t imagine better collaborators to step into this story with.”
Higher Ground’s Vinnie Malhotra and Anikah McLaren, LAIKA’s Travis Knight and Matt Levin, and Lulu Wang are producers. Lucy Liu, LAIKA’s Jeremy Kipp Walker and author Katie Kitamura are executive producers.
Since Higher Ground’s debut film American Factory won the 2019 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature, the company has produced a range of acclaimed movies, including the apocalyptic thriller Leave the World Behind (currently #8 on the Netflix all time Most Popular Movies List). The company's diverse film portfolio includes Rustin, American Symphony, Crip Camp, Fatherhood, Becoming, and Worth.
Higher Ground and LAIKA are both represented by CAA. Lulu Wang and Local Time are represented by CAA and management company Redefine Entertainment. Martyna Martok is repped by CAA and management firm Kaplan Perrone Entertainment. Lucy Liu is repped by CAA and management company Framework Entertainment. Melton is repped by 111 Media, CAA, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Katie Kitamura is repped by Trident Media Group and Anonymous Content.
Lulu Wang is coming off her work on Expats, the limited series adapted from Janice Y.K. Lee’s bestselling novel. She served as showrunner, writer, and director of all six episodes. The series, which premiered on Prime Video, featured an ensemble cast led by Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-Young Yoo, Jack Huston, and Brian Tee. Wang is also producing two highly anticipated projects for Searchlight Pictures: Again Again Again, penned by celebrated comedian and writer Joel Kim Booster, and The Eyes are the Best Part, marking the directorial debut of actress and writer Greta Lee. Wang first rose to international prominence with her sophomore feature, The Farewell, which she wrote and directed. The A24 breakout became a cultural phenomenon, earning the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language.
Lucy Liu is a critically acclaimed actress, filmmaker, and artist with a global presence. Known for her roles in Kill Bill, Charlie’s Angels, Chicago, Presence, and Red One, her films have collectively grossed over $3.7 billion worldwide. Liu’s recent work includes starring in and producing Rosemead, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Narrative at the Bentonville Film Festival, where she was honored with the Rising To The Challenge Award. Liu's groundbreaking career began with a 1999 Emmy nomination for her role in Ally McBeal, a landmark achievement that set the stage for her diverse career in television and film. As a producer, she has championed a range of impactful documentaries, including Freedom’s Fury and Redlight, as well as the Emmy-nominated VR experience The Pirate Queen. As a visual artist and UNICEF Ambassador for over 20 years, Liu advocates for women and children globally. In 2019, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, becoming only the second Asian American woman to do so in nearly 60 years.
Charles Melton is an award-winning and critically acclaimed actor who has captivated audiences with his performances in film and television. Melton most recently starred opposite Oscar® winners Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in Todd Haynes' film May December, for which he earned a Gotham Award and New York Film Critics Circle Award, among others. Both the film and Melton’s performance were nominated for the Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and Film Independent Spirit Awards. Associated Press named him one of the top Breakthrough Performers of 2023, and Variety included him as 10 Actors to Watch. Melton has wrapped production on Nicolas Winding Refn’s My Own Private Hell for Neon. Up next, he will star in the second season of the highly anticipated Netflix Emmy® winning series Beef opposite Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, and Cailee Spaeny. Other credits include Alex Garland’s Warfare for A24, the Warner Bros.’ feature, The Sun Is Also a Star and Sony’s Bad Boys for Life. On television, he starred in the Emmy nominated mystery-drama series Poker Face opposite Natasha Lyonne, Mel Brooks’ History of the World, Part II for Hulu, and The CW hit series Riverdale. As a Global Ambassador with the Special Olympics organization, Melton advocates for the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities through education and sports.
Martyna Majok was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her Broadway debut play, Cost of Living, which was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Other plays include Sanctuary City, Queens, and Ironbound, which have been produced across American and international stages, and the libretto for Gatsby: An American Myth, with music by Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett. Martyna is currently adapting Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 for the Broadway stage, has developed TV projects for HBO, and is working on several feature adaptations. Her adaptation of the Atticus Lish novel Preparation for the Next Life will be released by MGM/Orion on September 5th, directed by Bing Liu with Plan B producing alongside Barry Jenkins' Pastel.
Katie Kitamura is the author of five novels, most recently Audition, which is longlisted for the Booker Prize, and Intimacies, which was named one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2021, longlisted for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, and a finalist for a Joyce Carol Oates Prize. She is a recipient of the Rome Prize in Literature, fellowships from the Cullman Center and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and many other honors. Her work has been translated into 21 languages. She teaches in the creative writing program at New York University.
Praise for Audition:
"[Kitamura's] most thrilling examination yet of the deceit inherent in human connection."
—The New York Times
"A deftly crafted, slow-burn psychological thriller full of sly metafictional reflections on the nature of storytelling and identity.”
—The Washington Post
“A blisteringly incisive, coolly devastating tour de force of controlled menace…. Bold, stark, genre-bending, Audition will haunt your dreams.”
—Boston Globe
“Kitamura serves up a taut and alluring novel…complex and engrossing…Readers won’t be able to put this down.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
About Higher Ground:
Higher Ground was founded by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. From scripted and unscripted television, feature films, and animated series to podcasts and digital series, the company tells widely acclaimed stories across all platforms. Higher Ground Productions has a first look deal for film and television with Netflix, and Higher Ground Audio has a first look podcast deal with Audible. For more information on Higher Ground projects, visit HigherGroundMedia.com.
About LAIKA:
Founded in 2005 just outside Portland, Oregon, LAIKA has produced five films: Missing Link (2019), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), The Boxtrolls (2014), ParaNorman (2012) and Coraline (2009). All were nominated for the Academy Award® for Outstanding Animated Feature. Kubo and the Two Strings won the BAFTA® Award for Best Animated Film and received an additional Oscar® nomination for Visual Effects. Missing Link was awarded the Golden Globe® for Best Animated Film. LAIKA was awarded a Scientific and Technology Oscar® in 2016 for its innovation in 3D printing. LAIKA is currently in production on its next animated film Wildwood. The studio is developing the animated feature films The Night Gardener, from an original idea by Bill Dubuque, creator of the hit series Ozark, and Piranesi, based on the NYT bestselling novel by Susanna Clarke with a screenplay to be written by Dave Kajganich.
LAIKA’s Live Action subsidiary has a range of projects in development including feature films based on the action thriller novel Seventeen by screenwriter John Brownlow; an original script Crumble, written and directed by Brian Duffield (Spontaneous) with Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Spider-verse films) producing, and an original project from Oscar®-nominated screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Dune). Captain Marvel filmmakers Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck will write and direct LAIKA’s live action adaptation of #1 New York Times bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new novel Atmosphere. www.laika.com
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