Andrew Garfield and Julia Roberts

Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images; Phillip Faraone/Getty Images

Andrew Garfield has tracked down a lead role opposite Julia Roberts in a new thriller from Luca Guadagnino that is set in the world of academia.

Garfield is in negotiations to star opposite Roberts in the forthcoming Amazon MGM Studios feature After the Hunt. Guadagnino (Challengers) is set to direct from a script by Nora Garrett, with the film aiming to start production this summer.

Hailing from Imagine Entertainment, After the Hunt focuses on a college professor who is forced to confront her own dark past when a prominent student makes an accusation against one of her colleagues.

Imagine’s Allan Mandelbaum brought the script to the production company and worked with CAA to land Roberts and Guadagnino. Guadagnino serves as a producer alongside Imagine’s Mandelbaum and Brian Grazer.

Garfield is a two-time Oscar nominee who can next be seen in A24 and Studio Canal’s romantic film We Live in Time opposite Florence Pugh. Garfield’s recent credits include starring in the FX series Under the Banner of Heaven, for which he earned his first Emmy nomination, and reprising his role of Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home. He is repped by Gordon & French, CAA, ID and Sloane Offer.

Guadagnino is known for directing Call Me by Your Name (2017), Suspiria (2018) and Bones and All (2022). After the Hunt reunites him with Amazon MGM Studios, which released his Zendaya-led film Challengers last month. 

Roberts’ recent film credits include the Universal romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise alongside George Clooney and last year’s Netflix thriller Leave the World Behind that co-starred Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke.

Deadline was the first to report the news of Garfield’s casting.