Karen Gillan, Josh Hutcherson, and Clive Owen have signed to star in Blasphemous, a supernatural thriller that will mark the directorial debut of Luke Piotrowski, the genre screenwriter behind Hellraiser and She Rides Shotgun.
North.Five.Six., the finance, sales and distribution group founded by Michael Rothstein and Sam Hall and whose slate includes the upcoming movies Regretting You and Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, and CAA Media Finance are launching worldwide sales at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin. The filmmakers are hoping to get production underway in New York this August.
The project comes armed with a cavalcade of production companies and involves heavyweights Thunder Road, the company behind the John Wick franchise, as well as Dwayne Johnson-front facing Seven Bucks Productions, among others.
Piotrowski wrote the script, which appeared on the 2023 Black List, the ranking of popular unproduced Hollywood scripts. According to Thursday’s announcement, Blasphemous is characterized as a mix of The Exorcist and Training, centering on two clerics – a rookie priest (Hutcherson) and his devout mentor (Owen) who must transport a possessed young woman (Gillan) to a secure location for an exorcism. All hell breaks loose when she unexpectedly escapes, putting their lives on the line and their faith to the ultimate test.
Producing are former Sony executive Scott Strauss via his recently-formed banner Badlands, Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee for Thunder Road, and Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia for Seven Bucks. Gillan is also producing with her partner at Red Riot Pictures, Jess Biddle.
Rothstein, Hall, and Warren Goz will executive produce on behalf of North.Five.Six. Kimberly Bialek will oversee for Seven Bucks.
“Blasphemous is one of the best scripts the collective producer group has ever read,” Strauss said in a statement. “It’s a one-of-a-kind genre ride that features sharp dialogue, compelling characters, and powerful ideas.”
Gillan is currently filming the latest instalment of the Jumanji franchise, which is also starring Johnson. She will then segue to shooting Chad Stahelski and Amazon’s remake of Highlander.
Hutcherson is the star of two franchises, The Hunger Games and Five Night’s at Freddy’s, with the latter’s second instalment released this past December.
Owen last starred as a villain in Daisy Ridley action movie Cleaner and starred as detective Sam Spade in AMC’s mini series Monsieur Spade.
Gillan is repped by UTA, Maison 2, Linden Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen while Hutcherson is repped by Gersh, TFC Management, and Hansen Jacobson. Owen is repped by CAA and Hirsch Wallerstein while Piotrowski is repped by Redefine Entertainment.
