Chris Rock's 'Misty Green' Hits Theaters Friday: Everything to Know

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2026 — Twelve years after Top Five, Chris Rock is back behind the camera. Misty Green — which Rock wrote, directed, and co-stars in — opens in theaters this Friday, October 9, from A24. The comedy-drama centers on a fading Emmy-winning actress fighting for a Hollywood comeback, and it's built around a breakout lead performance from Rosalind Eleazar that festival critics have been talking about since Toronto.

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, then screened at the New York Film Festival. It's Rock's fourth feature as a director, following Head of State (2003), I Think I Love My Wife (2007), and Top Five (2014) — the last of which remains the best-reviewed film of his directing career. This one is a different gear entirely: less broad comedy, more character study, with Rock calling the roughly $5 million production "a tiny movie" in his Variety profile — made on his own terms.

The story

Misty Green (Eleazar) is an award-winning actress whose career has stalled. Once celebrated, she's now broke, facing eviction, and financially supporting her bipolar brother Jay (Daniel Kaluuya). When her former talent agent Randy (Topher Grace) re-enters the picture — and an ace director from her past, Jordan (Rock), dangles a tailor-made comeback role in a Dreamgirls remake — Misty has to navigate Hollywood's machinery, her own worst habits, and a sketchy offer from a slick producer (Adam Driver) that could solve her money problems in the worst possible way.

Rock has said he watched Uncut Gems repeatedly while writing, telling reporters the film is "a female Uncut Gems" — frantic momentum, a ticking clock, and very ordinary financial pressures driving every decision. The trailers back that up: Misty auditions, hustles, sings (including a wrenching new arrangement of "One Night Only"), and tries to hold her life together over seven days that feel like they could go either way.

The cast

Eleazar, best known to TV audiences from Slow Horses, carries the film — and by most festival accounts, she more than carries it. She was honored with a TIFF Tribute Performer Award at the premiere, and Rock has said her audition ended the casting search on the spot: "The room just changed," he said at TIFF. "She was funny, she was dangerous, she was moving and completely in command."

The ensemble around her is stacked. Kaluuya plays Misty's brother in his first live-action screen role since Nope four years ago. Driver is the slippery producer. Kendrick plays Naomi, Misty's friend, a fellow actress thinking hard about leaving Los Angeles. Grace is the former agent. Anderson, Kelli Garner, Amy Landecker, Rich Sommer, and Tracie Thoms round out the cast. Rock plays Jordan, the director offering Misty her shot.

What critics are saying

The festival reception has been mixed-to-warm, which for a Rock-directed character piece counts as encouraging. The film sits around 69% on Rotten Tomatoes from early critics' reviews. The throughline in nearly every review: Eleazar is the revelation. The Wrap called her "a star," writing that the film is "a lot of fun, landing enough of its jokes and nailing enough emotional moments" — but that it's ultimately "a showcase for Eleazar." The Playlist's TIFF coverage noted the film "brilliantly satirize[s] the bigotry and hustle at the heart of Hollywood," while acknowledging not every critic was won over.

Rock himself has been unusually candid on the press tour — telling Variety that "making it" in Hollywood was never the point ("Having love in your life. If you got no love, you're broke as f**k. That's making it"), and telling the New York Times that the film's themes of infidelity and forgiveness reflect life well beyond show business.

Rock's second act behind the camera

There's a symmetry to Misty Green that Rock himself seems to recognize. Just as Eleazar's character is fighting for a second act in front of the camera, Rock is staging one behind it. After Top Five earned him the best reviews of his directing career in 2014, filmmaking took a back seat to stand-up and acting — including a celebrated run on FX's Fargo and film roles in Rustin and Amsterdam. "Now I'm this director guy," Rock told Variety in a recent profile, describing the shift in how he sees his own career.

He's also been using the press tour to push back on how Hollywood casts. Rock told The Playlist he advises struggling filmmakers to hire Black women for hard-to-cast roles, saying they face the steepest uphill climb in the industry — "She's probably available," he said, framing it as both a practical tip and an indictment of who's overlooked. It's the same institutional critique the film itself is making, delivered in Rock's signature deadpan.

For A24, Misty Green is another bet on auteur-driven mid-budget filmmaking — the kind of movie that rarely gets made at this scale anymore. Whether it breaks out beyond the arthouse crowd will depend on opening weekend, but the Eleazar performance gives it a genuine awards-season talking point. A TIFF Tribute Performer Award is not nothing; it's the kind of early signal that puts a name on ballots.

Where to watch

Misty Green opens in theaters only on Friday, October 9, distributed by A24. It's a limited release, so check your local listings — A24 titles typically expand based on opening-weekend performance. No streaming date has been announced; A24 films generally land on streaming several weeks after their theatrical run, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Tickets are on sale now through all major ticketing platforms. If you're in Los Angeles, New York, or other major markets, expect the widest availability opening weekend.

Our movies desk is tracking Misty Green through opening weekend, and the culture desk has more on the films and moments shaping the fall season.