John Lee Hancock’s courtroom drama about the landmark court case against the American chemical company Monsanto has further increased its star power. LaKeith Stanfield, Julia McDermott, David Duchovny, Melonie Diaz, Bilal Hasna and Greg Kinnear have signed on, joining previously announced Jonathan Bailey and Laura Dern.
The untitled film is set in 2019 and follows Dwayne “Lee” Johnson, who uses the company’s most famous product, the herbicide and grass insecticide Roundup, as part of his job as a high school groundskeeper. The film follows the true story of Brent Wisner (Bailey), a young lawyer with no trial experience, who takes on a seemingly insurmountable case against the American chemical giant Monsanto in 2019 on behalf of Robert (Stanfield).
Johnson v. Monsanto was the first Roundup cancer case to go to trial, ending with a ruling that Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A jury awarded Johnson $289 million for failing to warn consumers that exposure to Roundup herbicide causes cancer. The decision set a precedent that paved the way for thousands of subsequent lawsuits and jury verdicts against Monsanto’s parent company, Bayer.
Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks) will direct from a script he wrote with Michael Wisner, Alexandra Duparc and Ned Benson. Moritz Borman, Eric Kopeloff, Philip Schulz-Dale, Adam McKay, Kevin Messick and John Levin are producing the project. Netflix acquired the rights to the project from Cannes in 2024. CAA Media Finance brokered the deal on behalf of the filmmakers.
“I was drawn to this modern-day David vs. Goliath true story because I thought it was dramatic, moving, very funny, and very important in today’s world,” Hancock said before the film’s release. “My ambition is to deliver smart, thoughtful, commercial legal drama that takes viewers on a human journey.”
Indeed, Hancock’s film is timely, as the U.S. Supreme Court is currently deciding whether federal law preempts state-level “failure to warn” claims when the EPA does not mandate cancer warnings. The court heard Monsanto’s oral arguments in April, arguing that it should protect Monsanto from future “failure to warn” claims, backed by the EPA’s position that Roundup is safe and does not need to carry cancer warnings on its labels. A verdict is expected to be handed down this month.
Julia McDermott and David Duchovny. Melonie Diaz and Bilal Hasna.
McDermott: Thomas Bruneau / Duchovny: Mark Mann / Diaz: Stéphanie Girard / Hasna: Yellow Belly
