Benny Safdie’s bizarre upcoming film has added two new members to its cast, including a former Batman star. The live-action/CGI hybrid called Lizard Music previously added Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the whimsical “Chicken Man.” The movie will be based on the eponymous 1976 novel by Daniel Pinkwater.
Who has joined the cast of Benny Safdie’s bizarre A24 movie?
Deadline has reported that Benny Safdie’s Lizard Music has added Alicia Silverstone and Tim Heidecker in undisclosed roles. Silverstone is best known for playing Barbara Wilson aka Batgirl in 1997’s Batman & Robin. Before that, she played the lead role of Cher Horowitz in Clueless. Most recently, Silverstone starred in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia and Netflix’s A Merry Little Ex-Mas.
Meanwhile, Heidecker has worked mostly as a comedian, though he has appeared in feature films like Bridesmaids, Vacation, and the web series On Cinema, among others. He also appeared in the Jordan Peele-produced 2025 horror film Him.
Lizard Music follows a young boy who opens a “hidden door to the extraordinary”, stumbling upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music. The boy, to be played by Theo Clark Leber, goes on a journey that brings him to the “Chicken Man” and his 111-year-old chicken companion named Claudia. After they meet, the three set off on an adventure that has them “voyage through invisible worlds” and “unexpected harmonies.”
Safdie and Johnson are also producing the film. They are joined by Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt from UA and David Koplan from Magnetic Fields Entertainment. The film will mark Leber’s feature debut, with the script written by Safdie himself.
Lizard Music currently doesn’t have a release date. Safdie and Johnson previously worked on The Smashing Machine. Besides making films, Safdie has also acted in other filmmakers’ projects, including Christopher Nolan’s recently released The Odyssey.
