Mahershala Ali to Star in Swan Song for Apple

Mahershala Ali, the busiest man in show business, is at it again. 

Apple has announced that it’s picked up and will produce Swan Song, a “genre-bending” new film that will star two-time Academy Award-winning actor Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Green Book). The film will receive a theatrical release in addition to being available on the Apple TV+ subscription service.

In addition to starring as a lead character named Milo, Mahershala Ali will produce the film. Adam Shulman and Jacob Perlin will also serve as producers on behalf of Anonymous Content. Production is expected to begin in the spring. There is no word on a release date yet.

Swan Song was written and will be directed by Benjamin Cleary, who previously won an Oscar for his short film, Stutterer. The film is set in the near future and according to the logline will examine “how far someone will go, and how much they’ll sacrifice, to make a happier life for the people they love.”

“I’ve been developing Swan Song for a while and when I sat down with Apple it was immediately clear they completely understood my vision,” Cleary said in a statement. “Once Mahershala agreed to join us I knew we had something really special. To be making this movie with Mahershala and Anonymous at Apple is an absolute dream.”

Since winning his second acting Oscar for Green Book (becoming the first black actor to win two Oscars in the same category in the process), Mahershala Ali has been quite busy. Last year saw Ali starring in Alita: Battle Angel, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and True Detective season 3. Next up the actor is set to headline sci-fi thriller Sovereign and more importantly to us all: he will take up the mantle of the titular daywalker in Marvel’s Blade reboot. Though if Ali keeps on adding projects to his slate with such reckless abandon, people may start to worry about the half-vampire.

Ali and the film he’s shepherding is a big get for Apple, which is still in the process of filling out Apple TV+ film archive. Also on the slate for Apple are 2020 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Award-winning Documentary Boys State, The Banker, Beastie Boys Story, On The Rocks, and Wolfwalkers.

Alec Bojalad is TV Editor at Den of Geek and TCA member. Read more of his stuff here. Follow him at his creatively-named Twitter handle @alecbojalad