Gregg Araki has begun shooting his new feature, The Decline of F*cking Western Civilization. This ensemble dark comedy brings together Ashton Kutcher and Alison Brie, while Jesse Williams is still negotiating his involvement in one of the leads.
Production kicked off on September 16, 2026 in Los Angeles. The plot remains under wraps for now, as do the roles entrusted to the two confirmed leads. The project is nonetheless pitched in the vein of Alexander Payne’s Election and Sam Mendes’s American Beauty, two satires about social façades, the frustrations, and the imbalances that lurk behind an apparently ordinary daily life.
This comparison sets the expected tone without spoiling the plot: a dark comedy built around a cast of characters and tangled relationships. With no official synopsis available, the exact nature of these ties and the respective roles of Ashton Kutcher and Alison Brie in the story remain unclear.
Gregg Araki is directing the film from an initial script by Kevin W. Koehler, which the filmmaker later refined. The project is produced by Why Not Productions and Goodfellas, two companies backing this new production spanning France and the United States.
A major figure of the New Queer Cinema, Gregg Araki made his name with films like The Living End, The Doom Generation, Nowhere, Mysterious Skin, and Kaboom. After I Want Your Sex, the director quickly moves on to a new big-screen project. He had previously signed White Bird, with Shailene Woodley and Eva Green.
The casting of Ashton Kutcher and Alison Brie puts two performers long linked to comedy at the heart of a project pitched in a darker key. Jesse Williams, best known for Grey’s Anatomy, could join them, but his contract has not yet been officially finalized.
The Decline of F*cking Western Civilization currently has no release date or French distributor announced. Filming has begun, confirming that the movie is now in production, while we await the full synopsis and the rest of its cast and distribution details.
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