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It baddie Bill Skarsgård and It Follows’ “final girl” Maika Monroe will be joining forces as they’ve both been cast to star in VILLAINS, a darkly comic thriller to be directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen based on their own script, which made the 2016 Black List.
Villains is about a pair of amateur criminals who stumble upon a dark secret held by two sadistic home owners when they break into their suburban home.
Tim and Trevor White will produce for Star Thrower Entertainment with Allan Mandelbaum, as well as Garrick Dion from BRON subsidiary The Realm. BRON’s Aaron L. Gilbert is an exec. producer, as is Creative Wealth Media’s Jason Cloth with Rick Rickertsen and Mary Solomon co-producing. Endeavor Content will handle the North American sales.
Represented by UTA, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein.Berk and Olsen’s previous film was Body, which they wrote, produced and directed, and it was released by Oscilloscope. They also directed the horror sequel The Stakelander, the follow-up to Jim Mickle’s Stake Land.
Star Thrower was recently involved with Steven Spielberg’s The Post, which it developed with screenwriter Liz Hannah, as well as Indie Spirit winner Ingrid Goes West, Taylor Sheridan’s Wind Ricer and Rob Reiner’s LBJ. It’s currently producing Hannah’s latest script Mercury 13 for Amazon with actor Bradley Whitford and Amy Pascal producing.
Star Thrower’s recent slate includes Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated The Post, a script it developed with Liz Hannah; Ingrid Goes West; Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River; and Rob Reiner’s LBJ. The company is producing Mercury 13 for Amazon, re-teaming The Post‘s Amy Pascal, Bradley Whitford and Liz Hannah. It’s also in post on Welcome Home with Aaron Paul and Emily Ratajkowski.
The Realm produced the sci-fi film Prospect, which will premiere at SXSW in the coming week.
Skarsgard broke out big-time by playing killer clown Pennywise in New Line’s blockbuster based on Stephen King’s It, which should begin filming its sequel sometime this year. Monroe had a similar breakout in David Robert Mitchell’s horror film It Follows, and also appeared in Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day: Resurgence, Hot Summer Nights and The Tribes of Palos Verdes, and she next appears in The Widow.
Skarsgard and Monroe are both repped by WME with Skarsgard also repped by Magnolia Entertainment and Monroe by Management 360.
Edward Douglas | East Coast Editor
