EXCLUSIVE: Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Barry, Killing Eve) is the latest addition to the cast of Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, Netflix’s film adaptation of the short story by Stephen King, from Blumhouse and Ryan Murphy Productions.
In the feature written and directed by John Lee Hancock (The Little Things, The Founder), she will appear alongside previously announced cast members Jaeden Martell, Donald Sutherland and Joe Tippett.
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone was one of four stories in King’s latest collection of novellas, If It Bleeds. It centers on Craig (Martell), a young boy living in a small town, who befriends older, reclusive billionaire, Mr. Harrigan (Sutherland). The two form a bond over books and an iPhone, but when the man passes away, the boy discovers that not everything dead is gone, and finds himself able to communicate with his friend from the grave through the iPhone that was buried with him.
Howell-Baptiste will play Craig’s caring and concerned teacher, Ms. Hart, with Tippett portraying the boy’s father, as previously announced.
Ryan Murphy, Jason Blum and Carla Hacken are producing, with Chris McCumber and Jeremy Gold exec producing for Blumhouse Television. The film is currently in production and will be released globally on Netflix in 2022.
Howell-Baptiste is a two-time SAG Award nominee who will next be seen opposite Kiera Knightley in Silent Night, an AMC feature film directed by Camille Griffin and produced by Matthew Vaughn. She will also star in The Sandman, the series based on the DC comic book by Neil Gaiman, which Allan Heinberg developed for Netflix.
The British actress can currently be seen in Walt Disney Studios’ Cruella, opposite Emma Stone and Emma Thompson, and in Queenpins, a comedy feature in which she stars opposite Kristen Bell, which is currently in theaters and available for streaming on Paramount+.
Howell-Baptiste has also appeared on the TV side in HBO’s Barry, HBO Max’s Hacks, NBC’s The Good Place, Paramount+’s Why Women Kill, Warner Bros. Television’s Veronica Mars, BBC America’s Killing Eve, Netflix’s Love, ABC’s Downward Dog and more.
The actress is represented by CAA, Mosaic, B-Side Management in the UK, and Myman, Greenspan, Fox.
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