Cinetic Media Signs ‘A Different Man’ Filmmaker Aaron Schimberg, Producer Vanessa McDonnell

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Cinetic Media has signed Aaron Schimberg and Vanessa McDonnell, the filmmaker and producer behind the darkly comedic psychological thriller A Different Man, for management across all media.

World premiering at Sundance 2024 before going on to play Berlin, the conversation starter from A24 stars an unrecognizable Sebastian Stan as Edward, an aspiring actor who undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. Edward’s new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.

Schimberg wrote and directed the pic, which next week opens Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art’s New Directors/New Films. Also starring Adam Pearson and The Worst Person in the World breakout Renate Reinsve, in her American debut, the film is produced by Christine Vachon, McDonnell, and Gabriel Mayers.

Schimberg’s prior feature, Chained for Life — also starring Pearson — was released by Kino Lorber to widespread critical acclaim. His debut feature, Go Down Death, premiered as the closing night film of the Fantasia Film Festival’s Camera Lucida section and was released by Factory25.

McDonnell has produced all of Schimberg’s films under their banner Grand Motel Films. Previously, she also produced and edited the 2016 omnibus film Collective: Unconscious and co-created and edited the independent series The Eyeslicer.

Other notable clients of Cinetic Media include Richard Linklater, David Gordon Green, Todd Haynes, Babak Jalali, Killer Films, World of Wonder, Lana Wilson, Betsy West & Julie Cohen, Yance Ford, Matthew Heineman and Pete Nicks, to name a few.

Schimberg and McDonnell continue to be represented by CAA and Carlos K. Goodman at Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.