My Dead Friend Zoe: Everything to know about the movie featuring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris
The upcoming movie My Dead Friend Zoe sees Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris reunite on the big screen after almost two decades. They previously appeared together in the 2007 neo-noir crime thriller Gone Baby Gone, which marked Ben Affleck's directorial debut.
Directed by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes in his directorial debut, My Dead Friend Zoe is a dark comedy movie focused on Merit, a U.S. veteran who keeps seeing the presence of Zoe, her best friend who died in combat.
The film premiered almost a year ago at the South by Southwest (SXSW) and is scheduled for release in the theaters on February 28, 2025.
What is My Dead Friend Zoe about?
The official synopsis for the movie reads:
MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE is a dark comedy drama that follows the journey of Merit, a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran who is at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe, her dead best friend from the Army.
It further reads:
Despite the persistence of her VA group counselor, the tough love of her mother and the levity of an unexpected love interest, Merit's cozy-dysfunctional friendship with Zoe keeps the duo insulated from the world. That is until Merit's estranged grandfather—holed up at the family's ancestral lake house—begins to lose his way and is in need of the one thing he refuses... help.
Through a unique blend of realism and the supernatural, My Dead Friend Zoe explores themes of grief, trauma, loyalty, friendship, and the invisible wounds of war.
The cast of the movie
While Sonequa Martin-Green stars as a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran, Merit, Natalie Morales appears as Merit's dead best friend, Zoe. Here is a list of the other actors who appear in the dark comedy-drama:
- Ed Harris as Dale
- Morgan Freeman as Dr. Cole
- Gloria Reuben as Kris
- Utkarsh Ambudkar as Alex
- James Bane as Group Therapy Veteran
- Assia Lau'ren as Group Therapy Veteran
- Thom Tran as Group Therapy Veteran
- Alicia Borja as Group Therapy Veteran
- Zeke Alton as Group Therapy Veteran
- Richard Milanesi as Group Therapy Veteran
- Rich Paul as SPC Lewis
- John-Peter Cruz as SGT Gonzales
- Del Lewis as Roy Purdy
Direction and production
War movies have long been a popular genre in Hollywood, with films like Dunkirk, Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, and Hacksaw Ridge standing out as notable examples. My Dead Friend Zoe, a semi-autobiographical film, adds a unique perspective to this genre. Director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes wrote the movie with A. J. Bermudez.
What makes this film particularly unique is that its director is a war veteran himself. According to a Variety story published on March 6, 2024, Hausmann-Stokes served as a Bronze Star paratrooper in Iraq. This places him among a small group of Hollywood artists with military experience - a group that also includes Morgan Freeman, who appears in the film.
Paul Scanlan and Terri Lubaroff produce for Legion M alongside Richard Silverman of ReCre8 Entertainment, and Ray Maiello and Mike Field of Radiant Media Studios. Robert Paschall Jr. is also producing.
The most notable in the list of executive producers is Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. This marks Kelce's debut as a producer in Hollywood. Jeff Annison, David Baxter, Brandi Plants, Nancy Masterson, and Joe Masterson are executive producers for Legion M, a crowdfunded production company. Cast members Ed Harris, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Natalie Morales executive produce alongside Igor Tsukerman.
The film is scheduled for release in the theaters on February 28, 2025.
