Rosalind Eleazar takes center stage as Chris Rock’s ‘Misty Green’ opens

Rosalind Eleazar has arrived at her first major film-leading role with ‘Misty Green,’ Chris Rock’s new A24 drama, which opened in limited U.S. release Friday, October 9. Rock wrote and directed the film and appears alongside Eleazar, but the title and emotional weight belong to her. She plays a once-celebrated actor whose Emmy cannot protect her from eviction, addiction, damaged professional relationships or an industry eager to move on without her.

The story follows Misty through a compressed attempt to rebuild her life and career. A possible role in a new ‘Dreamgirls’ adaptation offers a path back, while the people around her—including a filmmaker played by Rock, her brother played by Daniel Kaluuya and a producer played by Adam Driver—pull her toward competing versions of survival. Anna Kendrick, Topher Grace, Anthony Anderson, Amy Landecker, Kelli Garner, Rich Sommer and Tracie Thoms are also part of the ensemble.

Rock has described the film as a drama with humor rather than a conventional comedy. In a note published by A24 before the opening, he framed Los Angeles as a place where wealth and poverty sit side by side and where talent does not guarantee access. His central idea is that Misty must repeatedly prove her worth even after demonstrating it once. That premise gives the film a distinctly Black Hollywood question: who is permitted a second act, and how much humiliation is demanded before the door opens again?

Eleazar approached Misty as a person to understand rather than a reputation to correct. The British actor told Harper’s Bazaar that she was drawn to the character’s contradictions and insisted on preserving both her beauty and ugliness instead of softening her. That choice matters because the role refuses an easy respectability arc. Misty can be magnetic, cruel, frightened, talented and self-destructive at once; the performance asks viewers to recognize her humanity without pretending every decision is defensible.

The casting story mirrors some of the film’s anxiety. Eleazar said her second remote audition from London was disrupted by loud music, passing trains and a lagging internet connection. Fearing that the technical problems had undermined her chance, she flew to Los Angeles to meet Rock in person. She won the part after years of screen and stage work, including her role as Louisa Guy on ‘Slow Horses.’ ‘Misty Green’ is her first starring film role, not the beginning of her career.

Early reviews disagree sharply about how well the movie serves its lead. The Los Angeles Times praised the drama as a compelling, visually strong showcase and called the part star-making. The Guardian argued that Rock overloads the story with subplots and treats some of its women too harshly, yet still credited Eleazar with carving out a character who can shift from warmth to rage in an instant. The divide is useful: acclaim for a performance does not erase criticism of the writing around it, and criticism of the film does not diminish the work Eleazar contributes.

That tension is especially relevant because ‘Misty Green’ is explicitly about the narrow roles available to Black women and the speed with which entertainment institutions can declare a woman difficult, outdated or replaceable. The film also makes Misty responsible for part of her isolation, resisting a simpler story in which every setback comes from an external villain. Whether that balance feels honest or punitive is one of the questions separating the favorable and critical responses.

The film runs 103 minutes and is rated R for sexual content, drug use, language and some nudity. Its October 9 opening is limited, so local showtimes and expansion plans may vary. What is already clear is that Eleazar has turned a character about being overlooked into the performance reviewers cannot look away from. Editorially, that may be the film’s most meaningful reversal: a story about Hollywood’s expiration dates has created a new leading-lady moment for an actor whose work was substantial long before the industry handed her the center of the frame.