Newport Beach Film Festival Sets Simon West’s Old Guy as Opening Night Film

The Newport Beach Film Festival has set Simon West’s Old Guy as its opening night film for the 2024 festival.

Held from Oct. 17-24 in Newport Beach, California, the movie will be making its world premiere at the festival. West will attend the screening on Oct. 17 alongside star Christoph Waltz, who will be presented with the 2024 Newport Beach Film Festival Icon Award.

Set for a Spring 2025 release from The Avenue, Old Guy also stars Cooper Hoffman and Lucy Liu. The story follows aging hit man Danny Dolinski (Waltz) who still believes he’s the best at what he does. Stuck in a boring “desk” assignment while pining for the love of spunky club manager Anata (Lucy Liu), Danny is thrilled when The Company pulls him back into the field — but he soon realizes that it’s only to train Gen Z newcomer Wihlborg (Cooper Hoffman), a prodigy assassin with a bad attitude.

The mismatched pair is asked to eliminate a competing crime syndicate, but uncover their employer’s true motive: to remove the old guard in a full takeover. The Company didn’t anticipate that Danny’s experience coupled with Wihlborg’s brilliance would create such an unlikely bond between the two. Along with Anata’s help, the duo takes matters into their own hands to take down The Company and prove that age has no limits.

“The Festival is thrilled to host the World Premiere of Simon West’s Old Guy as the Opening Night Film to kick off the 25th anniversary of the Newport Beach Film Festival,” said Gregg Schwenk, CEO and executive director of Newport Beach Film Festival. “To have Christoph Waltz in attendance to honor his iconic career will truly create an unforgettable event for our audience. We are looking forward to announcing additional films and special events for our 25th edition in the coming weeks.”

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More About Newport Beach Film Festival and Old Guys

Receiving the Icon Award, Waltz is a two-time Academy Award winner for his performances in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained. His other credits include Big Eyes, The French Dispatch, Horrible Bosses 2, No Time To Die, Spectre, and Water for Elephants. His upcoming projects include Dracula: A Love Tale and Frankenstein.

West is known for The Expendables 2, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and The Mechanic. Old Guy was written by Greg Johnson (The Last Son), and produced by Jib Polhemus (The Last Son, The Expendables 2), Martin Brennan (One Way, Zone 414), West, R.U. Robot Studio’s Petr Jákl (Medieval, The Last Full Measure) and Hal Sadoff (The Nice Guys, Orphan: First Kill). Norman Golightly (Lord of War, Ghost Rider) produced on behalf of Dark Castle Entertainment.

Executive producers include Highland Film Group’s Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier, The Avenue’s JJ Caruth, R.U. Robot Studio’s Martin J. Barab, Blue Rider Pictures’ Walter Josten (Around the World in 80 Days, Holes) and Aperture Media Partners’ Jared Underwood, Andrew Robinson and Dan Mandel.

Other recent releases from The Avenue include William Eubank’s action thriller Land of Bad starring Russell Crowe, Liam Hemsworth and Luke Hemsworth, which hit #1 on Netflix; Adam Cooper’s crime thriller Sleeping Dogs starring Russell Crowe and Karen Gillan; Rod Blackhurst’s Blood For Dust starring Scoot McNairy, Kit Harington and Josh Lucas; and Rusty Cundieff’s sci-fi thriller 57 Seconds starring Morgan Freeman and Josh Hutcherson.

The festival’s opening night gala will take place at Fashion Island in Newport Beach, and will feature live entertainment and culinary tastings from two dozen of Newport Beach’s top restaurants. The festival’s full lineup will be announced on Sept. 17. Find out more about attending here.

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