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After the rather disappointing Roman Israel Esq., filmmaker Dan Gilroy has already begun filming his next project for Netflix, under the working title UNTITLED DAN GILROY PROJECT. Besides reuniting with Nightcrawler stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo, Gilroy has put together a fairly impressive ensemble cast for what’s said to be a horror/thriller.
The new members of the film’s ensemble cast include Natalia Dyer from Netflix’s Stranger Things, Zawe Ashton (Nocturnal Animals), Tony Award winner Daveed Diggs from Hamilton, Tony nominee Tom Sturridge and Academy Award nominees Toni Collette and John Malkovich.
The plot for the film involves “big-money artists and mega collectors” dealing within the world of art, and that somehow has a horror-thriller bent to it.
Gilroy is also reuniting with his Nightcrawler producer Jennifer Fox for this film with Betsy Danbury serving as exec. producer. Production has already begun in Los Angeles with Gilroy shooting for a 2018 release.
Gilroy previously was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for Nightcrawler, which sadly didn’t receive nods for Gyllenhaal and Russo, who were both more than worthy. Gilroy’s follow-up Roman Israel, Esq. starring Denzel Washington, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) last Sept. but didn’t connect either with critics or audiences, even though Denzel received an Oscar nomination for the role.
Hailing from England, Ashton, repped by APA, Link and Troika, appeared in the Showtime series Guerilla and in Nocturnal Animals with Gyllenhall, and she’s also scored in Neil Jordan’s upcoming film The Widow.
After blowing people away with his performance as Thomas Jefferson in the Broadway hit Hamilton, the WME-repped Diggs wrote and starred in his own film Blindspotting, which premiered to raves at Sundance before being picked up by Lionsgate. He also appeared in the Lionsgate hit Wonder and the ABC show black-ish.
Also with WME< Sturridge was nominated for his role in the Broadway play Orphans and he appears in the upcoming Journey’s End (out Friday) and the drama Mary Shelley, which also premiered at TIFF last year.
Dyer played the role of Nancy on the hit Netflix series Strangers Things and should return for Season 3. She’s also repped by WME and One Entertainment.
Collette and Malkocich are two of the hardest working actors in showbiz bar-none with Collette appearing in the similarly-buzzworthy Sundance film Hereditary, which A24 just screened at SXSW before its release on June 8, as well as Brett Haley’s Sundance film Hearts Beat Loud. She was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense 18 years ago, and she’s more than due for a second Oscar. Collette is repped by CAA and United Management.
Last but most certainly not least, the WME-repped Malkovich is busy filming Birdbox for Netflix and Mark Wahlberg’s Mile 22 for STX, reuniting the duo from 2016’s Deepwater Horizon.
I didn’t hate Roman Israel, Esq, even if it a bit meandering compared to Nightcrawler, and with a cast like that (especially reuniting with Gyllenhaal and Russo), I’ll be looking forward to Gilroy’s latest venture.
The casting was initially reported by Variety.
Edward Douglas | East Coast Editor
