Johnny Flynn to Play Paul Simon in Bill Condon’s THE ROAD HOME

Deadline reports that Olivier Award-nominated actor Johnny Flynn has joined the cast of The Road Home, Bill Condon’s forthcoming historical musical drama. He will star alongside previously announced cast members Tony winner Cynthia Erivo, Thabo Rametsi, and Academy Award nominee Guy Pearce.

The stage and screen performer will take on the role of famed singer-songwriter Paul Simon. A musician himself, Flynn previously opened for Simon in 2018 with his band, Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit. The movie will soon begin principal photography in South Africa.

The Road Home follows trumpeter Hugh Masekela (Rametsi), who is pulled between two worlds after a boycott from the Anti-Apartheid Movement against his friend Paul Simon over his Graceland album. The boycott is led by Masekela’s mentor, Archbishop Trevor Huddleston (Pearce), who claims that Simon violated the United Nations’ Cultural Boycott with his township music-inspired album. In response, Masekela unites with Miriam ‘Mama Africa’ Makeba (Erivo) for the creation of the Graceland band in an effort to bring the voice of South Africa to the world.

The movie will feature the music of Masekela, Makeba and Simon, with Hilton Rosenthal producing new recordings of songs from their catalog for the official soundtrack. Michael Bronner penned the screenplay, from a story by Michael Bronner and Zakes Mda. The movie is being financed by Studiocanal.

Condon is no stranger to music-driven projects, having directed Dreamgirls, Beauty and the Beast, and 2025’s Kiss of the Spider Woman, as well as serving as a writer on Chicago and The Greatest Showman. 

Flynn recently played Richard Burton in the London production of Jack Thorne’s play The Motive and the Cue, which was subsequently recorded for National Theatre Live in 2024. Other theatre credits include The Taming of the Shrew/Twelfth Night (BAM, Old Vic, world tour), The Low Road and The Heretic (Royal Court Theatre), Richard III/Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe, West End), Jerusalem (West End, Olivier nomination), Hangmen (Royal Court/West End/off-Broadway), and True West (West End.)

TV work includes “Vanity Fair,” “Lovesick,” “Brotherhood,” “Inside No. 9,” “The Nightmare Worlds of HG Wells,” “Detectorists,” and “Genius,” earning a Critics Choice nomination for his performance as Einstein. Film credits include Emma, Operation Mincemeat, and Scrooge: A Christmas Carol. He will play Lucius Malfoy in the forthcoming HBO Harry Potter series.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos