Cory Michael Smith Joins Scarlett Johansson in Ari Aster's Scapegoat
Cory Michael Smith has joined the cast of Scapegoat, the thriller from director Ari Aster, according to an exclusive report from Deadline published on 21 October 2026.
The film already has a strong lineup. Scarlett Johansson leads, with Jacob Elordi, Jude Law, Ella Purnell, Caleb Landry Jones and Samba Schutte also in the cast. Aster is directing from a script he wrote himself.
A24, the studio that distributes films to cinemas, is releasing Scapegoat. It has put out all four of Aster's previous features. Aster and his producing partner Lars Knudsen will make the film through Square Peg, the production label they run together. A production label is the company whose name sits on a film's credits.
The plot is being kept secret. In May 2026, The Playlist reported that Johansson was set to star in Aster's next A24 film, an original project with its details still under wraps. Deadline had reported earlier that same month that Scapegoat would be Aster's next film after Eddington.
Smith is a familiar face to television and film audiences. He starred in the HBO movie Mountainhead, alongside Steve Carell and Ramy Youssef, which Deadline describes as critically acclaimed. He is also currently appearing on stage and screen opposite Dakota Fanning and Jake Johnson in The Sun Never Sets.
His next film is Slayground, another A24 release. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier, it opens on January 29.
Casting news like this tends to arrive well before a film reaches cinemas, and the production steps that follow often take months. For now, the announcement adds a name to a cast that has been built around a project still largely hidden from the public.
