*The first trailer for “The Man in My Basement” has arrived, introducing audiences to a haunting psychological thriller led by Willem Dafoe and Corey Hawkins. Based on Walter Mosley’s acclaimed novel, the film marks the directorial debut of theater artist Nadia Latif, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mosley.
Hawkins plays Charles Blakey, a young Black man living in Sag Harbor, New York, who faces the loss of his ancestral home due to foreclosure. One day, a strange knock at the door changes everything. Standing there is Anniston Bennet, portrayed by Dafoe, a mysterious white businessman with an offer: he wants to rent Charles’ dusty basement for the summer, and in return, he’ll pay enough to wipe out the debt.
Hawkins’ character accepts the proposal, only to find himself plunged into a disturbing descent filled with buried family secrets and creeping psychological tension. “We’re exploring mental health, trauma, exploitation, and yes, the nature of evil, but we’re also dealing with legacy, lineage, home, and love,” Hawkins says in an interview with EW.
Latif, who has long been captivated by the novel, reveals, “I haven’t stopped thinking about the novel since I first read it 20 years ago.” Her adaptation moves the timeline to 1994, ten years earlier than the book, to place it against the broader geopolitical backdrop of the Rwandan genocide and global colonial legacies. “It’s such a dark, twisted, and wickedly funny journey into the heart of evil,” she says.
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The film emphasizes issues of race, power, and history. “Darker,” “scarier,” and “more baroque” is how Latif describes her exploration of “where cruelty leads us.”
She praises Dafoe and Hawkins as “the kind of actors every director dreams of.”
“Each of them has very exposing work to do in the film but in very different ways,” she shares. “To watch them support each other through that… was beautiful.”
Hawkins describes Dafoe as “electric, relentless, and gracious,” adding, “Some actors get behind the eyes, some actors get under the skin — Willem does both.”
“The Man in My Basement” will premiere in theaters and on Hulu this fall. Watch the trailer above.
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