How Adam Scott & Danielle Deadwyler's New Sci-Fi Thriller Uses Their Past Roles Against Audiences, Teases The Saviors Director

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Adam Scott and Danielle Deadwyler in The Saviors

Published Mar 17, 2026, 4:01 PM EDT

Adam Scott and Danielle Deadwyler have come together for the twisty thriller, The Saviors, which uses their past roles against audiences.

Co-written and directed by Kevin Hamedani, The Saviors stars Scott and Sean as suburban married couple, Sean and Kim Harrison, who find themselves on the verge of a divorce when they decide to rent out their garage to Middle Eastern siblings, Amir and Jahan Razi, in the hopes of making money to fix and sell their house, then separate. However, when a bizarre series of events occur after the pair's arrival, Sean and Kim begin investigating the siblings, leading to chilling and emotional discoveries for all of them.

Alongside Scott, who produced the sci-fi thriller with his wife Naomi through their Great Scott Productions banner, and Deadwyler, Hamedani has assembled a star-studded cast for The Saviors. Among the roster is Mainstream's Colleen Camp, Fallout's Ron Perlman, Smoke's Greg Kinnear, The Penguin's Theo Rossi, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power's Nazanin Boniadi, A League of Their Own's Kate Berlant and Snowpiercer's Daveed Diggs.

In honor of its SXSW premiere, ScreenRant's Ash Crossan interviewed Adam Scott, Danielle Deadwyler, Theo Rossi and Kevin Hamedani in our media suite to discuss The Saviors. When asked about putting together the movie's unique range of performers, Hamedani acknowledged that part of his goal was to create a "disarming" feeling in the audience, as the writer/director acknowledged the movie would be "dealing with some heavy stuff," but still wanted everyone "to have fun."

As such, he began by turning to Scott, who he says "stuck on for years" as The Saviors took some time coming together in the development process, and praising the four-time Emmy nominee for being a "dream actor you can get to believe in something and keep going." It was from there that the Severance star suggested Deadwyler to be his co-lead, feeling she "would be the perfect Kim," following it up by casting Rossi and that the rest of the roster "snowballed" within a week:

Kevin Hamedani: I think Kate Berlant was Adam's friend, and we were all fans, but we didn't know they were friends, so that helped. And then – well, Ron Perlman has a great scene. We got him maybe a week before his scene. And fortunately, you [Theo Ross] and Ron have worked together many times. And Greg Kinnear we had worked with earlier, and I had seen him do a really funny bit on Curb Your Enthusiasm the night before. Adam said, "What about Greg?" And I was like, "Oh, that's a sign." It's kind of a dream come true cast. I know it sounds cliché, but it really is ridiculous.

However, as Rossi and Scott were quick to point out, there was one "weak link" in the Saviors cast, pointing to the dog actor they had in the film. Hamedani humorously acknowledged that "no one liked the dog" during production, though he and Scott also praised that the dog "did a great job" by filming his scene "in one take," with the latter even acknowledging that in the wake of Shudder's Good Boy, an award was created for Best Dog.

The Saviors Picks Up With Its Characters In Very Tricky Emotional Places

ScreenRant: And this couple, let's talk about them. Can you tell me about what their dynamic is? Because it is not in a place where they would be a typical couple. So where are they when we meet them?

Adam Scott: I think that when we meet the couple, they're in a really tough spot. They're in the midst of the process of separating. They're on the verge of pulling the trigger. I think if you ask one or the other, you might get different answers on whether the trigger's actually been pulled yet or not. My character is still very much hoping for reconciliation for this to go okay, but I think it's a little different for you [Danielle Deadwyler's character].

Danielle Deadwyler: Yeah. It's day by day, but she's trying to lean in, and yet is challenged by the paranoia, and the ongoing difficulty that he presents as a result of the new renters that they have present.

ScreenRant: And one of those renters, Theo [Rossi], hello. So tell me about your character and kind of who he is when we meet him and anything you can give about the background. It's one of those movies where I don't want to talk about too much and give things away.

Theo Rossi: Yeah, Amir is there for a purpose, and he's renting this area, because it's close to another area, and he's there — how do you say this? [Laughing]

Kevin Hamedani: He's just an Airbnb renter. He's renting an Airbnb from other kind folks.

Theo Rossi: That's it! He's just there.

Kevin Hamedani: He's just there. He may or may not have an agenda, but it may or may not be nefarious. That's correct. That's basically all you need to know.

ScreenRant: Since we're at the intersection of film and music at SXSW, I've been asking everyone what their favorite movie soundtrack of all time is.

Adam Scott: I'd say Grosse Point Blank was one of them. But there are others that I'm not thinking of.

Danielle Deadwyler: I'm going to be consistent all day. Love Jones.

Kevin Hamedani: Pulp Fiction.

Theo Rossi: I have three weird ones that I just remember buying the CD. It's a weird one. What Women Want. I just want to tell you, they had a great soundtrack. Singles had a great soundtrack. And I mean, the one that really kind of pops up is Garden State.

Kevin Hamedani: The Shins. That's the way we all learned about The Shins. Here's an obscure one. Last Action Hero.

Adam Scott: Really? Why?

Kevin Hamedani: AC/DC, Alice in Chains, Public Enemy. It was really nice.

Adam Scott: Do The Right Thing had a great soundtrack.

The Saviors premiered at SXSW on March 13 and is awaiting a global release date!