Oliver Stone has assembled one of the more quietly formidable casts in recent memory for White Lies, a multigenerational drama that marks the 79-year-old director’s return to narrative filmmaking after a ten-year absence. Actress and climate activist Stephanie Suganami has joined the picture, playing Chika, a woman who enters the orbit of Josh Hartnett’s lead character and his son.
The film, which Stone has been trying to make for more than a decade, finally secured financing from European backers last year and shot across Thailand, Rome, and Bulgaria over nearly three months. It marks his first narrative feature since 2016’s Snowden.
Suganami joins Michael Douglas, Willem Dafoe, Ellen Barkin, Leila George, Homer Gere, and Yvonne Chapman alongside Hartnett. The casting reunites Stone with Douglas, who starred in Wall Street, and Dafoe, who appeared in both Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. Douglas had announced his retirement in July 2025, making his appearance here a notable exception — drawn back, it seems, by loyalty to an old collaborator.
Stone described the film as “a personal story about people and relationships,” a departure from the politically charged dramas that defined his career. The screenplay, which he wrote himself, follows Jack Freeman, a child of divorce who repeats his parents’ mistakes with his own marriage and children. Feeling trapped, he sets off on a journey of escape that leaves him more lost than before — until a chance encounter with a woman living a completely different life sets him on a path of rediscovery.
Suganami brings a distinct profile to the project. She previously starred in A24’s horror film Opus opposite Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich, and has recurred on Power — Book II: Ghost and FX/Hulu’s Dave. Off-screen, she co-founded the digital climate education platform FutureEarth and sits on the board of Al Gore’s The Climate Reality Project.
Producer Fernando Sulichin called the film a source of immense pride, crediting Stone and his cast and crew for what they accomplished. Stone himself was more personal in his statement: “The cast was a delight from beginning to end. And the Italian crew was the warmest I ever worked with. I’m profoundly grateful for this opportunity.”
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No distributor or release date has been announced.
