Netflix has finally pulled back the curtain on its long-gestating project Grifters, announcing the principal cast and releasing a first-look teaser that has already set the internet ablaze. The streamer confirmed on Wednesday that the crime drama will star Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, and Annette Bening in the lead roles, with Stephen Frears directing. The teaser, which runs just under a minute, offers no dialogue but plenty of mood: shadowy motel rooms, a deck of cards being shuffled, and a single shot of a woman’s hand slipping a wallet into a coat pocket.
The film, based on Jim Thompson’s 1963 novel of the same name, follows a small-time conman whose loyalties are torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend - both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play. Huston takes on the role of Lilly Dillon, the mother; Cusack plays her son, Roy Dillon; and Bening steps in as Myra Langtry, the girlfriend. The supporting cast includes Jan Munroe as a guy in a bar, Robert Weems as a racetrack announcer, Stephen Tobolowsky as a jeweler, Jimmy Noonan as a bartender, and Richard Holden as a cop.
The project marks a significant reunion of sorts for Frears and Huston, who previously collaborated on The Grifters - a film that, in a curious twist of fate, shares both its title and its source material with this new Netflix production. That earlier adaptation, released in 1990, earned Huston an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and cemented her reputation as one of the most formidable performers of her generation. Netflix’s version, however, is not a remake in the traditional sense; sources close to the production describe it as a fresh interpretation of Thompson’s novel, with a screenplay that hews closer to the book’s bleak, amoral tone.
The teaser’s release comes after months of speculation about who would fill the film’s three central roles. Netflix had kept the casting under wraps since acquiring the rights in early 2025, and the announcement confirms that the streamer is betting big on a prestige crime drama with a distinctly unglamorous edge. The 110-minute runtime suggests a tight, economically told story - typical of Thompson’s pulp origins.
What stands out most about the cast is its blend of veteran gravitas and mid-century Hollywood energy. Huston, 75, remains a commanding presence; her Lilly Dillon is described in the film’s official logline as a woman who “plays every angle” and views her son as both a liability and a mark. Cusack, 60, brings his signature mix of charm and nervy desperation to Roy, a conman whose small-time scams unravel when the two women in his life collide. Bening, 68, rounds out the triangle as Myra, a grifter whose ambitions are as dangerous as her methods are seductive.
The supporting players are no less intriguing. Stephen Tobolowsky, a character actor whose credits range from Groundhog Day to Deadwood, takes on the role of a jeweler - a part that, in Thompson’s novel, serves as a crucial pivot point in Roy’s downward spiral. Jan Munroe, Robert Weems, Jimmy Noonan, and Richard Holden fill out the film’s seedy underworld of racetracks, bars, and backroom deals.
Netflix has not yet announced a release date, but the teaser’s debut suggests a late 2026 or early 2027 launch. The film is rated R for language and some violence, according to a classification notice that accompanied the teaser. Early reactions on social media have focused on the unusual decision to adapt the same novel twice - and on whether Frears can recapture the icy precision of his 1990 version without repeating himself.
The original Grifters holds a 6.502/10 rating on TMDb and a 6.8/10 on IMDb, numbers that reflect its status as a critical darling rather than a box-office smash. It won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature and earned Bening a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Whether Netflix’s take will achieve similar acclaim remains to be seen, but the streamer is clearly positioning it as an awards-season contender.
For now, the teaser does its job: it promises a world of double-crosses, bad intentions, and three actors who know exactly how to sell a lie. As the camera lingers on Huston’s face in the final frame - a half-smile, a cold stare - the message is clear. In the world of Grifters, everyone is playing someone. The only question is who gets played.
Source: Netflix Newsroom
