‘The Eden Express’: Jonah Hauer-King to Lead Feature Adaptation of Memoir!!

After sweeping Halle Bailey‘s Ariel off her feet, or fins, last year in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, Jonah Hauer-King is set to board The Eden Express. Variety exclusively reported that Disney‘s Prince Eric has been cast in the lead role of Daniel Cockburn‘s feature adaptation of Mark Vonnegut‘s memoir of the same name. Hauer-King will play the troubled son of legendary sci-fi author Kurt Vonnegut on a journey to find a metaphorical “Eden” as he begins to suffer from bipolar disorder.

The Eden Express takes place in 1970 as Mark, along with his girlfriend Virge and a group of their friends, seeks a life away from the United States under President Richard Nixon. Their eyes are set on a commune in British Columbia that they hope will be a respite from the troubles of the world. However, as they approach their believed utopia, Mark begins having visions and hearing voices relaying ominous instructions to him. Each step closer to their dream also brings him one step closer to a psychotic break that would briefly derail his life.

Cockburn has been absent from filmmaking for some time, with his last feature film coming in 2010 with You Are Here. Premiering at Locarno that year, it became a film festival favorite, winning the Toronto Film Critics Association’s Jay Scott Award for Best First Feature and scoring the top prize at the European Media Art Festival. Since then, he’s mostly stuck to short films, but landing Hauer-King gives him a solid foundation for what could be his starriest project yet. Scythia Films, which is also producing Ali Abbasi‘s hot-button Donald Trump feature The Apprentice, is collaborating with Good Question Media to help bring the film to life.

Jonah Hauer-King’s Star Has Continued to Rise Since ‘The Little Mermaid’

While he’s still best known for playing Prince Eric, Hauer-King is slowly but surely rising in prominence in Hollywood. Most recently, he took on the role of a young Lali Sokolov, whose older self was played by Harvey Keitel, in Peacock‘s miniseries adaptation of Heather Morris‘s Holocaust novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz, and he’s led the BBC and PBS Masterpiece war drama World on Fire through two seasons thus far. For attendees at the Toronto International Film Festival, however, they just saw him appear with Claes Bang and Ellie Bamber in the historical epic William Tell during its world premiere. The future looks bright for the young star too, with The Threesome starring Zoe Deutch on the docket for him as well as a villainous role in Rich Flu and a part in the new season of Doctor Who.