EXCLUSIVE: Jonathan Majors has been dropped from a slew of projects we hear on good authority including Protagonist Pictures’ feature adaptation of the Walter Mosley novel, The Man in My Basement, an ad campaign for the Texas Rangers MLB team, as well as an unannounced Fifth Estate Otis Redding biopic which the Primetime Emmy nominated actor was circling.
The latest on Majors comes in the wake of yesterday’s news that his manager, Entertainment 360, and publicist, The Lede Company, have cut ties with the actor, who is facing domestic violence allegations in NYC after a March 25 incident involving a dispute with a 30-year old woman. The unnamed victim was taken to the hospital with “minor injuries to her head and neck,” according to authorities at the time of the incident. Majors is scheduled to appear in court on May 8 after being charged by the NYC D.A.
Majors was set to star and executive produce The Man in My Basement under his Tall Street Productions banner. A replacement for Majors is underway. The pic also has Willem Dafoe attached. Protagonist Pictures did not return request for comment by Deadline.
Dallas, Texas was one of the areas Majors grew up in. His ad campaign for the Texas Rangers was set to air Friday, then pulled at the last minute we are told. When reached by Deadline, Texas Rangers provided no comment.
Meanwhile, Majors was kicking the tires on a Fifth Estate project, early in the works, entitled Otis and Zelma, which has the full support of Redding’s estate. No deals were signed on the Stephanie Allain produced project, but Majors is no longer under consideration for the film, Deadline has been informed.
Protagonist Pictures is fully bankrolling The Man in My Basement with Nadia Latif making her feature directorial debut. Deadline first told you about the project. In the Mosley novel, Charles Blakey is an African American man living in Sag Harbor. He’s stuck in a rut, out of luck and about to lose his ancestral home when a peculiar white businessman with a European accent offers to rent his basement for the summer. He’ll pay $50,000. This lucrative proposition leads Charles down a terrifying path that takes him to the heart of race, history and the root of all evil. Mosley adapted the novel with Latif. Dafoe is set to play the role of Anniston Bennet in the project as the opulent gentleman who requests to rent out the basement of Charles Blakey’s ancestral home.
As we also first told you yesterday, Majors is no longer attending this year’s Met Gala as one of its guests.
It is an unfortunate situation being on the other side of headlines for Majors. Before the NYC arrest, Majors was having a banner 2023 with Creed III and Ant-Man 3 grossing a combined $745M worldwide. The Yale Drama school alum also won rave reviews for his turn as a disturbed bodybuilder in Magazine Dreams at Sundance, a movie that Disney’s Searchlight ponied up for and set for a Dec. 8 Oscar corridor theatrical release. Texts released from his criminal defense attorney Priya Chaudhry, between the woman Majors had an alleged altercation with, looked to show her taking blame for their fight.
Majors remains with the MCU cast as their main villain in future phases, Kang the Conqueror, a character which appears in Disney+’s Loki season 2, and is slotted to star in 2025’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and 2026’s Avengers: Secret Wars.
Majors is also currently set to reteam with Spike Lee on Amazon Studios’ Da Understudy and to play Dennis Rodman in Lionsgate’s 48 Hours in Vegas.
Majors received a Primetime Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Male Lead Actor Drama series category for HBO’s Lovecraft Country in 2021.
