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What does The Mastermind, starring Josh O’Connor, have in store for us?
Kelly Reichardt’s upcoming film, The Mastermind, stars British actor Josh O’Connor, best known for his performances in the series The Crown and the excellent Challengers. Now, he plays a reckless, yet fascinating art thief operating during the Vietnam War.
Published on 22 August 2025. Updated on 2 February 2026.
The Mastermind, Kelly Reichardt’s new movie with Josh O’Connor
After a standout role in Luca Guadagnino’s (very) sporty and sexy film Challengers, the talented Josh O’Connor explored a different genre in 2025. He played alongside Daniel Craig in the next installment of the adventures of Benoit Blanc. Titled Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Story, this crime comedy also starred Cailee Spaeny and Andrew Scott.
In 2026, the British actor will appear in several major projects. After working with Alice Rohrwacher in La Chimera, he will once again work with a renowned female director, this time Kelly Reichardt (Certain Women, First Cow). Seen in The Crown (2016) and more recently in Lee Miller (2024), Josh O’Connor is in fact the lead in this crime drama produced by MUBI.
Titled The Mastermind, the film follows a reckless, yet fascinating family dad and former artist, who plots to steal valuable artworks in the 1970s. Now a carpenter, he breaks into a museum with the help of two accomplices and takes several paintings. Except that he then struggles to sell them… Josh O’Connor, who excels as a pathetic anti-hero, stars opposite the magnetic Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza) in this project, which reinvents the heist movie with a great deal of burlesque and strangeness.
The History of Sound, another upcoming project for 2026
Kelly Reichardt’s feature The Mastermind is part of the official competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in 2025. Surprisingly, it was not the only film in competition starring Josh O’Connor on the Croisette.
Alongside Paul Mescal (Gladiator 2), the British actor will star in Oliver Hermanus‘s upcoming film, The History of Sound, also screening at the French film festival and slated for release on February 25th, 2026. Based on a short story written by Ben Shattuck, the project is described as a gay romance set against the backdrop of World War I and New England countryside.
Josh O’Connor and Daniel Craig in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025). © Netflix.
An appearance in Steven Spielberg’s film
Another major project for the actor? Steven Spielberg’s new film, Disclosure Day, in which Josh O’Connor will star next to Emily Blunt. The feature, centered around a UFO story, remains shrouded in mystery. What we do know is that it will be coming out in cinemas on June 10th, 2026, and could be selected for the next Cannes Film Festival.
Josh O’Connor will also soon star opposite Léa Seydoux in Luca Guadagnino’s new film, a gay romance entitled Camere Separate. The pitch? “Thomas is dying. He’s twenty-five. Leo is four years older and finds himself widowed. But there is no word in the world to describe someone who was neither his spouse nor wife, nor lover, nor companion. Thomas is dead…”
The Mastermind by Kelly Reichardt, coming out in theatres on February 4th, 2026.
