Netflix released “The Whisper Man” on Friday, a crime thriller starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan and Adam Scott, marking the first time De Niro and Michael Keaton have shared a screen since 1997’s “Jackie Brown.”
What the Film Is About
Based on Alex North’s bestselling novel of the same name, the film follows Tom Kennedy, a widowed crime writer played by Adam Scott, whose eight-year-old son goes missing. Kennedy turns to his estranged father, Peter Willis, a retired detective played by De Niro who arrested a serial killer known as the Whisper Man three decades earlier. As new disappearances echo the old case, Michelle Monaghan’s Detective Amanda Beck investigates a possible connection to the imprisoned killer, played by Keaton in an uncredited role that Netflix has asked reviewers not to name directly.
The film runs one hour and 54 minutes and carries an R rating. Its supporting cast includes Hamish Linklater, Owen Teague, John Carroll Lynch, Will Brill and Acston Luca Porto.
Behind the Camera
James Ashcroft, known for “The Rule of Jenny Pen” and “Coming Home in the Dark,” directed the film from a screenplay by Ben Jacoby, who wrote “The First Omen,” and Chase Palmer, a co-writer of “It.” “The Whisper Man” marks the sixth collaboration between Netflix and AGBO, the production company founded by Anthony and Joe Russo. AGBO chief creative officer Angela Russo-Otstot described the film as “a gripping thriller” that is “at its core a poignant and complex story of father and sons,” crediting De Niro with anchoring that relationship.
Ashcroft called working with the cast “a dream come true,” telling Netflix’s Tudum that despite working with several screen legends, “it was so easy.” De Niro, reflecting on the film’s central father-son relationship, said the dynamic between the two characters resonated with him. “A lot of families and parents and their kids in some way have tensions and disagreements and petty beefs with each other,” he said. “This is all interwoven in a thriller, so it’s a little different.”
Early Reviews
The Hollywood Reporter’s review said the film is “not going to challenge ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ as the high-water mark of this genre,” but noted it has “enough strengths to earn traction in the Netflix algorithm.” The film had reportedly been under consideration at Netflix since 2022, before the adaptation was formally confirmed in 2025.
Why It Matters
With an ensemble cast spanning multiple generations of Hollywood talent and a story built around a chilling, book-inspired mystery, “The Whisper Man” arrives as one of Netflix’s more high-profile late-summer releases, betting on star power and a familiar thriller formula to draw viewers heading into the fall streaming season.
