‘A Different Man’ Star Adam Pearson to Lead ‘Elephant Man’ Remake

• Adam Pearson is set to lead a new film adaptation of The Elephant Man
• Pearson, 40, broke out with his performance in 2024’s A Different Man alongside Sebastian Stan
• Pearson is a British actor who lives with neurofibromatosis

After standing out in last year’s drama A Different Man, Adam Pearson has landed his next movie role.

PEOPLE confirmed Thursday, May 1, that Pearson, a British actor who lives with neurofibromatosis, will star in a new feature film adaptation of The Elephant Man as Joseph Merrick. Filming is scheduled to begin next year.

The movie is being written Moby Pomerance, the son of late playwright Bernard Pomerance, who wrote the original Tony-winning Elephant Man play.

“Well — here’s the announcement — I am beyond honoured to be playing this role and involved in this project,” Pearson, 40, wrote in a statement on X after Variety first reported the news.

“Shout out to my reps and family for their unwavering support and huge shout out to those who follow and support my work. I love you all.”

According to Variety, Pearson will become the first disabled actor to portray Joseph Merrick on the screen. Merrick, an English man who lived in London during the 19th century, became known as “the Elephant Man” as an exhibit at freak shows due to his severe physical disfigurements.

John Hurt previously portrayed Merrick in director David Lynch‘s 1980 film The Elephant Man, and a number of high-profile actors — including Bradley Cooper, David Bowie, Billy Crudup and Mark Hamill — have starred in different productions of Pomerance’s play on the stage. 

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Pearson said in a statement May 1 that Merrick “is a man I have a long and complex relationship with.”

“From having his name used as a term of derision to learning about the man himself in documentaries I’ve presented. It’s been a cathartic journey of growing to love and respect a man who I as a child I avoided even thinking about,” he said. “Now as a disability advocate and actor, I can think of no greater honor (yet heavy responsibility) than to tell the true story of Joseph Carey Merrick.”

Pearson cited The Elephant Man while speaking with PEOPLE in September about his childhood, saying, “Anytime The Elephant Man or The Hunchback of Notre Dame was on TV, the next day I’d hear that nickname.” The actor criticized the BBC in 2018 for casting Stranger Things’ Charlie Heaton as Merrick in an adaptation of The Elephant Man that does not appear to have since been produced.

“I think the job ultimately should go to the best actor, however, actors with the condition you’re trying to portray should absolutely be the first port of call, irrespective of how much extra effort that is for a casting director or production crew,” he told the U.K.’s LBC radio station at the time. “Don’t be lazy, be authentic.”

Pearson made his screen debut in 2013’s Under the Skin. In last year’s A Different Man, Stan, 42, portrayed a man who undergoes an experimental procedure to heal his physical disfigurements and subsequently develops and unhealthy obsession with Pearson’s character after the procedure’s success. Stan won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in the movie in January.