After more than 15 years in development, Darren Aronofsky ’s long-awaited crime thriller Caught Stealing is finally making its way to the screen—and if the first trailer is anything to go by, it’s a wild, blood-spattered departure from the emotional weight of The Whale. Based on Charlie Huston’s cult novel, the film stars Austin Butler as Hank Thompson, a washed-up high school baseball player whose life unravels after agreeing to do something as mundane as looking after a neighbour’s cat.
Set in the gritty underbelly of Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1990s, the story quickly escalates from harmless favour to full-blown urban mayhem, pulling Hank into a violent underworld of mobsters, money, and moral grey zones. Aronofsky reunites with longtime cinematographer Matthew Libatique to bring a textured, shadow-drenched New York to life, grounding the chaos in something tactile and richly atmospheric.
Butler is joined by an eclectic and impressive ensemble, including Zoe Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D'Onofrio, Matt Smith, Bad Bunny, Griffin Dunne, and Regina King. According to Aronofsky, the film offered a welcome change of pace after The Whale, telling Vanity Fair he was drawn to something "more fun" and "purely entertaining."
If audiences respond well, Caught Stealing may just be the beginning — Huston’s novel is the first in a trilogy. For now, Aronofsky’s latest promises a sharp blend of noir grit, eccentric energy, and criminal misadventure when it hits cinemas on August 29.
