{"id":573868,"date":"2026-07-07T20:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/573868\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T20:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:06:16","slug":"dwayne-johnson-to-star-in-free-byrd-from-artists-equity-greg-kwedar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/573868\/","title":{"rendered":"Dwayne Johnson to Star in ‘Free Byrd’ From Artists Equity, Greg Kwedar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDwayne Johnson<\/a> is set to star in and produce the new action-drama, \u201cFree Byrd,\u201d the latest film from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon\u2019s Artists Equity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFree Byrd\u201d stars Johnson as a Las Vegas motorcycle stuntman who conceals his dementia diagnosis from everyone, including his mechanic brother, as he risks everything on one last jump. The film, the official logline explains, \u201cexamines and confronts the mind\u2019s vast mysteries and the beauty and power of asking for help before it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGreg Kwedar<\/a> \u2014 a back-to-back Academy Award nominee for \u201cSing Sing\u201d and \u201cTrain Dreams\u201d \u2014\u00a0will direct \u201cFree Byrd\u201d and rewrite the screenplay. The script was originated by Jon Boyer and featured on the Black List. \u201cThe Peanut Butter Falcon\u201d\u00a0writer-directors Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson penned an earlier draft.<\/p>\n

\n\tNews of the project comes as Johnson, a recent Golden Globe nominee for \u201cThe Smashing Machine,\u201d prepares to launch his latest film, Disney\u2019s live-action \u201cMoana.\u201d Johnson will next star in \u201cJumanji: Open World\u201d and the upcoming \u201cLizard Music,\u201d written and directed by Benny Safdie.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2019Free Byrd\u2019 is a gift in many ways,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cEmblematic of life\u2019s sacred beauty, as well as life\u2019s harsh and callous reality. The subject matter of \u2018Free Byrd\u2019 has become deeply personal to Greg Kwedar and myself as we\u2019ve started to unpack this fateful journey together. Artists Equity have been incredible filmmaking and artistic partners, who not only share Greg\u2019s vision for the film, but who are all connected to our story in their own unique and personal ways. When the mind of a loved one begins to slip away, life sure takes on a whole new meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAcademy Award nominee Gil Netter (\u201cLife of Pi,\u201d \u201cThe Blind Side\u201d) originally brought \u201cFree Byrd\u201d to Artists Equity and will serve as producer. Also producing are Fifth Season (which previously partnered with Artists Equity on \u201cAnimals\u201d for Netflix); Johnson for Seven Bucks Productions; and Kwedar and fellow two-time Academy Award nominee Clint Bentley, for Ethos.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is a project that all of us at the company have connected with personally,\u201d said Affleck and Damon, Artists Equity\u2019s CEO and Chief Content Officer, respectively. \u201cGreg is one of the most exciting writer-directors working today, and Dwayne is an extraordinary talent and person. We are extremely excited that they have chosen to make this with us and very much look forward to sharing the finished film with audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dwayne Johnson is set to star in and produce the new action-drama, \u201cFree Byrd,\u201d the latest film from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[244457,434,8168,18,117,68193,19,17],"class_list":["post-573868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-artists-equity","tag-celebrities","tag-dwayne-johnson","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-greg-kwedar","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}