Justin Long Joins Jenna Ortega, Rose Byrne in Drama ‘Nasty’ (Exclusive)

Justin Long has joined Jenna Ortega and Rose Byrne in Nasty, a drama that Mary Bronstein is directing for Warner Bros.’s specialty label, Clockwork. LuckyChap’s Tom Ackerley, Bronte Payne and Morgan Begg are producing along with Ortega. Written by Isabella Jarosz, the script tells of a prodigious athlete who, while battling for a spot on the Olympic gymnastics team, must overcome her biggest opponent: her coach. Ortega is the talented gymnast, while Byrne is the maternal yet manipulative and exploitative coach. Long will play Byrne’s brother, the team’s co-coach who is popular with the gymnasts but has a hidden dark side. Jarosz’ script was on the 2024 Black List and has been described by some as a “Black Swan in the world of competitive gymnastics.” And the project is notable as it reunites Byrne with Bronstein following the actress’ Academy Award-nominated performance in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, which the filmmaker directed. Nasty is due to begin shooting mid-November in New Orleans. Long recently stole scenes with a turn in Zach Cregger’s breakout horror movie Barbarian and was seen in a cameo in the filmmaker’s Weapons. The actor, who also led the first season of Hulu/Disney+ Goosebumps adaptation, will next be seen in Amazon MGM’s rom-com You Deserve Each Other opposite Penn Badgley and Meghann Fahy. That movie is due to hit in January. He is repped by Independent Artist Group and Yorn Levine. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up