Lulu Wang is set to direct a live-action feature adaptation of Audition, Katie Kitamura’s Booker Prize-longlisted novel, with the likes of Lucy Liu and Charles Melton leading the cast.
The film is backed by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions and animation powerhouse LAIKA.
Wang co-wrote the script with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok, blending Kitamura’s layered thriller with her own cinematic touch. The film follows a celebrated actress in Manhattan whose seemingly idyllic life unravels after a stranger claiming to be her son appears — setting off a spiral of identity, guilt, and blurred realities.
The project carries a personal stamp from Obama himself, who 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.”
Since breaking out with The Farewell, Wang has been busy helming Amazon’s Expats with Nicole Kidman and is lined up for multiple projects with Searchlight. Liu (Kill Bill), whose films have pulled in over $3.7 billion worldwide, recently premiered and produced Rosemead at Tribeca, while Melton (May December) continues his rise after a Gotham Award-winning turn in Todd Haynes’ May December.
For Higher Ground, Audition adds to a growing slate that includes the Oscar-winning American Factory and Netflix’s apocalyptic Leave the World Behind. LAIKA, best known for stop-motion gems like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is also expanding into live-action, with Audition marking one of its most ambitious pivots yet.
