Film News Roundup: Diana Silvers Joins Jessica Chastain’s Actioner ‘Eve’

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – In today’s film news roundup, Diana Silvers joins Jessica Chastain’s “Eve,” “Halloween” outpaces “The Nun’s” Fandango pre-sales, and RLJE Films nabs the horror-thriller “Monster Party.”

CASTING

Newcomer Diana Silvers has been cast in Tate Taylor’s action movie “Eve” opposite , John Malkovich, and Colin Farrell, Variety has learned exclusively.

Taylor replaced Matthew Newton as director of “Eve” after Newton left the project earlier this year following online backlash due to his history of alleged assault and domestic violence. Voltage will fully finance “Eve” and handle worldwide sales. Farrell will be playing the leader of a black-ops organization whom Chastain’s title character works for.

Silvers also landed the lead opposite Octavia Spencer in Taylor’s upcoming film “Ma” and will also be seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Glass” with Bruce Willis, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Samuel L. Jackson. She has been shooting Annapurna’s “Booksmart,” directed by Olivia Wilde, and recently wrapped the Hulu/Blumhouse TV anthology series “Sophie’s Necklace,” airing in November.

Silvers is repped by WME and Anonymous Content.

BOX OFFICE

“Halloween” is outpacing “The Nun” and “A Quiet Place” at the same point in the sales cycle for online ticketer Fandango.

“Halloween” was selected in a Fandango survey of more than 1,000 moviegoers as the most anticipated horror film of the fall.

“The timing couldn’t be more perfect for a new ‘Halloween’ movie to open this weekend,” said Fandango managing editor Erik Davis. “A direct sequel to the original John Carpenter classic, this new ‘Halloween’ features all the thrills and chills movie fans want from this series, as well as a fantastic performance from Jamie Lee Curtis, who reprises one of her most iconic characters, Laurie Strode, for one more confrontation against the masked killer, Michael Myers.”

ACQUISITIONS

RLJE Films has acquired all North American rights to the upcoming horror-thriller “Monster Party” from writer-director Chris von Hoffmann.

The movie stars Julian McMahon (“Nip/Tuck”), Robin Tunney (“The Mentalist”), Sam Strike, Erin Moriarty, Lance Reddick (“Fringe”), Brandon Micheal Hall, Virginia Gardner, and Diego Boneta (“Scream Queens”). RLJE Films will release the pic nationally in theaters, VOD, and Digital HD on Nov. 2.

“We’re excited to release ‘Monster Party’ this November,” said RLJE Films chief acquisitions officer Mark Ward. “With the combination of established actors who already have followings of their own, and young up-and-coming talent just breaking through, we know there will be a wide audience drawn to this incredibly clever horror-thriller that is loaded with twists and turns.”

The story follows three thieves who plan a daring heist, posing as waiters at a fancy Malibu mansion dinner party in the hopes of paying off an urgent debt. When their plan goes horribly wrong, the trio realizes the dinner guests are not as innocent as they seem and their simple cash grab becomes a violent and desperate battle to get out of the house alive.

“Chris von Hoffman’s storytelling is both entertaining and intense,” said producer Jesse Berger at Dark Web Productions. “It has been an incredible experience working with the creative team to bring this rollercoaster ride of a film to life.”

“Monster Party” is produced by Eric B. Fleischman, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Jesse Berger, and Fred Berger (“La La Land”). Ward and Jess De Leo from RLJE negotiated the deal with CAA on behalf of the filmmakers.

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German horror pic “Hagazussa,” which premiered at the 2017 Fantastic Fest, will be released by Doppelgänger Releasing and the website Bloody Disgusting, Variety has learned exclusively.

This marks Lukas Feigelfeld’s feature directorial debut and second movie under the distribution collaboration.

“Hagazussa” takes place in the Austrian Alps in the 15th century, when people lived in fear of witches and ancient magic. The film was awarded best picture in the next wave features category at Fantastic Fest.

“‘Hagazussa’ is as unique as it is terrifying,” said Lisa Holmes of Music Box Films/Doppelgänger Releasing. “We are looking forward to bringing this festival favorite to the broader horror audience and hope that they find themselves wanting more from first-time director Lukas Feigelfeld.”