Sonoya Mizuno — the British-Japanese actress and former ballet dancer who’s carved out a unique lane in Hollywood — is stepping behind the camera for the first time. Her directorial debut, Stages, is officially in the works with support from Film4 and A24.
Details about the film are tightly guarded, but sources tell us the story draws from Mizuno’s own artistic roots. Before becoming a familiar face on screen, Mizuno trained at London’s prestigious Royal Ballet School and danced with companies including the English National Ballet, Dresden SemperOper Ballett, and the Scottish Ballet. That foundation in movement and performance is said to shape the film’s creative direction.
Mizuno transitioned to acting with her breakout role in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina. Since then, she’s appeared in Annihilation, Crazy Rich Asians, La La Land, and Shortcomings, as well as leading Garland’s FX series Devs and featuring in Maniac and House of the Dragon.
Stages brings together an experienced producing team: Peter Rice, Agile Films’ Myles Payne and Sam Ritzenberg, and longtime collaborator Alex Garland — marking yet another chapter in their enduring creative partnership.
Speaking with Deadline in 2020 about working with Garland on Devs, Mizuno reflected on that dynamic: “He’s always open to people giving their ideas, he takes them on, and it feels like a very equal place.”
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She added: “I’d say for me, a lot of the collaboration would be between me, Alex, and Rob Hardy, the DP, because this was the third thing we were doing together, the three of us. By this point, we’d developed this working relationship, which had always felt collaborative and also unique to the three of us.”
With Mizuno’s multidisciplinary background and A24’s track record for visually driven storytelling, Stages is shaping up to be one of the more intriguing directorial debuts to watch.
