Lucy Liu and Charles Melton are set to star in Audition, a live-action feature adaptation of Katie Kitamura’s Booker Prize-longlisted novel. The project brings together Lulu Wang, who will direct and co-write the screenplay, and the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions, which is partnering with LAIKA on the film.
Wang, known for The Farewell and most recently Amazon Prime Video’s Expats, has penned the script with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok (Preparation for the Next Life, Cost of Living). Higher Ground and LAIKA will produce the film alongside Wang’s Local Time banner, with Liu, LAIKA’s Jeremy Kipp Walker, and Kitamura serving as executive producers.
Published earlier this year by Riverhead Books, Audition is described as a tense psychological thriller. It follows a celebrated actress enjoying a bohemian life in Manhattan with her creative husband—until a mysterious young man appears, claiming to be her estranged son. What begins as an emotional reunion unravels into a gripping exploration of identity, guilt, and the roles people play in their own lives.
The project arrives with President Barack Obama’s personal endorsement. Obama, who co-founded Higher Ground with Michelle Obama, featured Audition on his 2025 summer reading list, calling it a “quiet novel about the ways we hide our true selves from others – and ourselves.”
Behind the camera, Vinnie Malhotra and Anikah McLaren are producing for Higher Ground, while Travis Knight and Matt Levin are producing for LAIKA.
Liu, whose career spans global box-office hits like Kill Bill, Charlie’s Angels, and Chicago, recently starred in and produced Rosemead, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival and won Best Narrative at the Bentonville Film Festival. She was also recognised with the Rising To The Challenge Award.
Melton, fresh from critical acclaim for May December, has since been seen in A24’s Warfare and Nicolas Winding Refn’s My Own Private Hell. He’ll next appear in season two of Netflix’s Beef and in the streamer’s upcoming feature Saturn Return opposite Rachel Brosnahan and Will Poulter.
Since its Oscar win with American Factory in 2019, Higher Ground has delivered films including Leave the World Behind, Rustin, and American Symphony. LAIKA, best known for its stop-motion gems like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is simultaneously developing multiple animated projects while expanding its live-action slate.
