EXCLUSIVE: Julianna Margulies (The Morning Show) and Joanna Gleason (Hannah and Her Sisters) have come aboard to star opposite Baylee Toney (Redeemer) in Penny, a feature adaptation of Penny Mishkin’s memoir Becoming the Person I Was Meant to Be that Toney is directing.
Set in ’70s New York City, the film centers on Penny (Toney), a 24-year-old woman from an affluent but emotionally distant family who learns she is going blind due to a degenerative eye disease. As her vision deteriorates, Penny turns to psychoanalysis not in hopes of reversing her condition, but to confront years of denial and silence. Through reckoning with her parents, reconnecting with her siblings, and reclaiming her own voice, Penny begins to redefine what it means to truly see, to be seen, and to heal.
Others in the cast of Penny include Myles Clohessy (Frontier Crucible), Lio Tipton (Love Hurts) Robert Clohessy (It Ends with Us), Michael Paré (Streets of Fire), Matt Leone (God’s Waiting Room), and Gabby Bryan (Life Itself).
Mishkin, Brendan Walsh and Dave Niziolek penned the script. Walsh, Toney and Niziolek are producing the film, with Mishkin serving as executive producer. Currently in production, the film is cast by David Guglielmo and Emma Fleming.
“I’m truly honored to be working with this cast on Penny,” Toney told us. “The level of care, curiosity, and commitment they’re bringing to the story and material is incredibly meaningful to me. I’m truly looking forward to directing actors with such depth and experience. As a filmmaker, I want to make work that matters, and I believe this film will resonate with audiences in a lasting way.”
Noting that “blindness is always at the top of the list of the most feared disabilities,” Mishkin said, “Most people with degenerative eye diseases, when told they may go blind, say, ‘If I go blind, I won’t want to live anymore.’ I was one of them. But over time, I discovered that while blindness changed my life, it did not diminish it. And that’s why I want to tell this story as a film. I want people, especially those newly facing disability, to understand that life with a disability can still be full, rich, and meaningful. Through this film, I hope to reach the widest possible audience with one simple but powerful truth: Adversity may change your life, but it does not have to diminish it or limit your joy.”
Margulies has recently been seen starring in the third season of Apple TV’s hit drama The Morning Show, alongside Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, and in the 2024 family drama Millers in Marriage, which premiered at TIFF and was released in 2025. An Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award winner, best known for her work on ER and The Good Wife, she is represented by CAA and Gendler, Kelly & Cunningham.
Gleason is a Tony Award winner best known in film for Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Boogie Nights, and The Skeleton Twins. On television, she can be seen in The West Wing, The Newsroom, and Blue Bloods. She is represented by Innovative Artists.
Toney recently directed and starred in the upcoming Western feature Timber Lands, alongside Wes Studi. She also stars in the 1800s biopic Medora: Empress of the Badlands and appears in the Western The Redeemer with Brandon Routh. She is represented by Established Artists.
Myles Clohessy is repped by Prime Talent; Robert Clohessy by Buchwald; Tipton by Paradigm, Mosaic and McKuin Frankel Whitehead; Paré and Leone by Luber Roklin; Bryan by WME; and Walsh by Rain, The Rookery, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.
English (US) ·