Jonathan Bailey has joined the cast of John Lee Hancock’s legal drama Monsanto, replacing the previously announced Glen Powell as the film heads toward a shoot in Germany for Netflix. Bailey will play Brent Wisner, the real-life attorney who took on Monsanto over claims that its Roundup herbicide products caused cancer.
The casting shift gives the film a new face for a role built around a lawyer who was still untried when he entered one of the most closely watched corporate trials in recent years. Laura Dern plays Monsanto’s chief toxicologist, and her character testifies in the film that Roundup is safe, setting up the courtroom clash at the center of the story.
That clash has already helped make the project a valuable international package. Monsanto was pre-sold to Netflix for more than $30 million at the Cannes 2024 market, and the German-US co-production is being made by Philip Schulz-Deyle’s KrautPack Entertainment and Moritz Borman’s Los Angeles-based Onda Entertainment.
The Germany shoot is also tied to regional financing. FFF Bayern awarded the production €500,000 from its dedicated fund for international films and series, while its film commission helped scout Bavaria locations for the shoot. In February 2026, the fund’s committee set aside a total of €4.2 million for five international projects with Bavarian partners, under a program that can provide up to €2 million per project as a conditionally repayable loan.
What makes the new casting noteworthy is that it lands after the film has already secured financing, a distributor and a central trial story. Bailey is stepping into a role that links the drama directly to the lawsuit over Roundup, and the production now appears to be moving from package to cameras rather than from development to deal-making. For a film built on a case that turned a private injury claim into a broader fight over corporate liability, that is the point where the story becomes real.