Charli XCX has officially entered Martin Scorsese's world. The 34-year-old pop star has joined the cast of What Happens at Night, Scorsese's upcoming Gothic horror film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, first reported by Variety on October 22, 2026. It is the latest and biggest step yet in her very deliberate pivot from pop stages to movie sets.
A cameo, not a lead
According to the reports, Charli will appear in a cameo rather than a main role. Her character and screen time have not been disclosed. The film is based on Peter Cameron's 2020 novel of the same name, with a screenplay by Patrick Marber (Closer, Notes on a Scandal). It follows a married American couple who travel to a small, snowy European town to adopt a baby; after checking into a largely deserted, eerie hotel, they encounter unusual characters — a chanteuse, a businessman, a faith healer — and reality begins to blur.
DiCaprio ("The Man") and Lawrence ("The Woman") both star and produce, leading an ensemble that includes Mads Mikkelsen (reportedly "Brother Emmanuel"), Patricia Clarkson, and Jared Harris. Apple Studios is producing with StudioCanal, and Scorsese directs and produces through his Sikelia Productions. Production reportedly began in February 2026, with a first-look snowy image shared in March. There is no release date or trailer yet.
The album-cover connection
This is not a random pairing. In July, Charli featured Scorsese on the cover of her album Music, Fashion, Film — an 11-track record photographed by Aidan Zamiri, with the cover mixing music, fashion and film legends including John Cale and Marc Jacobs. A cover shot has now turned into a spot in his movie.
The cameo also fits a plan she has been telegraphing all year. On Quen Blackwell's YouTube series Feeding Starving Celebrities in February, asked whether she wanted to act more, she answered: "Yes, are you kidding? I want to quit music, babe, and act." In a British Vogue cover story in April, she said she would never use her birth name, Charlotte Emma Aitchison, as an actress — "I'm never gonna be Charlotte" — and described "a hunger to learn" how other people work on set. Her dream project, she has said, is an "ultimate it-girl Final Destination" film.
Her busiest film year yet
The Scorsese cameo caps an astonishing 2026 on film for the singer. She has already appeared in the mockumentary The Moment (playing a fictionalized version of herself, with a story credit), I Want Your Sex, The Gallerist, and Faces of Death, and she is producing and starring in a horror project with Japanese auteur Takashi Miike. What Happens at Night is Scorsese's first narrative feature since 2023's Killers of the Flower Moon — also Apple, also DiCaprio, and nominated for 10 Academy Awards — and his seventh feature with DiCaprio.
Whether the cameo is a scene or a storyline, one thing is clear: the Brat summer era has officially given way to the Brat filmography era. The question is no longer whether Charli XCX can act — it is how long the music industry keeps her.
Watch: the latest videos on Charli XCX's Scorsese casting and the What Happens at Night film.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Life of Riley (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: TheWrap, PEOPLE, The Statesman (all October 22–23, 2026).