Key Takeaways
- Ten-year-old Theo Clark Leber has joined Lizard Music in a leading role opposite Dwayne Johnson.
- The movie will mark Leber’s feature-film debut.
- Dwayne Johnson will play an eccentric older character known as the Chicken Man.
- Benny Safdie is writing and directing the fantasy adaptation for Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists.
- No official release date has been announced.
Ten-year-old actor Theo Clark Leber has landed a leading role opposite Dwayne Johnson in Lizard Music, the upcoming fantasy film written and directed by Benny Safdie.
The new casting makes Leber the young central character in the Lizard Music Dwayne Johnson project. The Chicago-area fourth grader secured the role after a casting process lasting several months, and the movie will mark his feature-film debut.
Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists are developing the film as a live-action and CGI hybrid based on Daniel Pinkwater’s 1976 children’s novel.
Who Is Theo Clark Leber?
Theo Clark Leber is a 10-year-old newcomer from the Chicago area who will make his feature-film debut in Lizard Music.
Before securing the movie role, Leber appeared in a production of Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt at Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois. According to the original casting report, he also enjoys football, lacrosse, art, and history.
Leber will play the boy at the centre of the story. The character finds himself alone and discovers a mysterious late-night television broadcast featuring lizards performing strange music.
His attempt to understand the broadcast leads him into a hidden and increasingly unusual world.
What Is the Lizard Music Movie About?
Lizard Music follows a boy who discovers a secret broadcast of musical lizards and begins searching for an explanation.
Along the way, he meets an eccentric older man called the Chicken Man and Claudia, the man’s unusually old chicken companion. The three characters become connected through their shared encounter with the unexplained broadcast.
The adventure begins as a search for a hidden society but develops into a larger journey involving strange worlds, unexpected friendships and characters who feel separated from ordinary life.
Daniel Pinkwater’s original novel centres on a boy named Victor, who stays up late while his parents are away and notices lizards appearing on television after regular programming has ended. He later joins the Chicken Man on a journey to find them.
Who Does Dwayne Johnson Play in Lizard Music?
Dwayne Johnson will play the Chicken Man, a whimsical and eccentric man in his seventies.
The character travels with Claudia, an elderly chicken who is his closest companion. Johnson previously said that he had slimmed down to prepare for the unusual role, which is different from the muscular action characters associated with much of his career.
Johnson described the project publicly in 2025 after completing The Smashing Machine, his earlier collaboration with Benny Safdie. He said Safdie’s pitch convinced him to take on the Chicken Man transformation.
Why Are Dwayne Johnson and Benny Safdie Working Together Again?
Lizard Music reunites Dwayne Johnson and Benny Safdie after The Smashing Machine.
Their earlier film presented Johnson in a dramatic role as mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr. Lizard Music offers another transformation, but in a more whimsical fantasy setting.
Safdie wrote the screenplay and is directing the adaptation. He has said that he read Pinkwater’s novel to his children and was attracted to its imagination and sense of wonder.
The project therefore appears designed as a broad fantasy adventure rather than another conventional Dwayne Johnson action film. Amazon MGM’s film leadership has described the story as imaginative, cinematic and suitable for audiences drawn to unusual family adventures.
Who Is Producing Lizard Music?
The film is being produced through several companies connected to its studio, director and star.
The confirmed producers include:
- Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt for United Artists
- Benny Safdie through Out for the Count Productions
- Dwayne Johnson through Seven Bucks Productions
- David Koplan through Magnetic Fields Entertainment
Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists secured the film after competition for the project in 2025.
Is Lizard Music Live Action or Animated?
Lizard Music is planned as a live-action and CGI hybrid.
That means human characters such as Leber’s young lead and Johnson’s Chicken Man will appear alongside computer-generated fantasy elements. The musical lizards and some of the story’s stranger environments are likely to require visual effects.
Specific information about the design of the lizards, Claudia or the hidden worlds has not yet been released.
When Is the Lizard Music Release Date?
Amazon MGM Studios has not announced an official release date for Lizard Music.
There is also no confirmed trailer, complete cast list or public first-look image from the finished movie. Any release year currently appearing on unofficial film pages should therefore be treated as speculation until the studio makes an announcement.
The latest confirmed development is the casting of Theo Clark Leber opposite Dwayne Johnson.
Why Theo Clark Leber’s Casting Matters
Leber’s casting gives the film its central young character and completes an important part of the story’s core partnership.
Although Dwayne Johnson is the project’s biggest established name, the plot is told through the experience of the boy who first discovers the strange television broadcast. Leber will therefore carry a significant part of the film alongside Johnson.
Launching a career opposite a major Hollywood star in a studio fantasy film is a substantial opportunity for a first-time feature actor. It also suggests that Safdie and the producers were willing to choose a newcomer after an extended search rather than selecting a child performer with an established movie résumé.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Who is starring in Lizard Music?
Theo Clark Leber will play the young lead, while Dwayne Johnson will appear as the Chicken Man. Additional major cast members have not yet been publicly announced.
Q2. Who is directing Lizard Music?
Benny Safdie is writing and directing the movie. It is his latest collaboration with Dwayne Johnson following The Smashing Machine.
Q3. What character does Dwayne Johnson play?
Johnson plays the Chicken Man, an eccentric older man whose closest companion is a chicken named Claudia.
Q4. Is Lizard Music based on a book?
Yes. The film is based on Daniel Pinkwater’s 1976 children’s fantasy novel of the same name.
Q5. Does Lizard Music have a release date?
No official release date has been announced by Amazon MGM Studios or United Artists.
Conclusion
Theo Clark Leber’s casting gives Lizard Music its young lead and places the newcomer opposite Dwayne Johnson in his first feature film.
The movie combines an unusual fantasy story, a well-known children’s novel and another transformative role for Johnson under Benny Safdie’s direction. However, several important details, including the full cast, production schedule, first footage and release date, remain unconfirmed.
For more casting announcements and studio updates, follow Fresh Global News entertainment coverage.
