Film News Roundup: Dacre Montgomery, Geraldine Viswanathan to Star in ‘Broken Heart Gallery’

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – In today’s film news roundup, Geraldine Viswanathan and Cedric the Entertainer get gigs, shooting starts on apocalyptic thriller “G.O.D.,” and immigrant story “Footprints of the Dragon” is in the works.

CASTINGS

, Dacre Montgomery and Utkarsh Ambudkar are set to star in romantic comedy “The Broken Heart Gallery.”

Viswanathan will portray an art collector who suffers a bad break up with her boyfriend, played by Ambudkar, who is also her boss at the Whitney Museum. She decides to curate The Broken Heart Gallery in the lobby of a hotel, operated by Montgomery’s character, and learns to love by letting go.

Natalie Krinsky is making her feature directorial debut and helming from her own script. Producers are No Trace Camping’s David Gross, Jesse Shapira and Jeff Arkuss along with Mason Novick and Michelle Knudsen. Selena Gomez, Mandy Teefey and Josh Clay Phillips of No Trace Camping are executive producing.

No Trace Camping is financing and producing “The Broken Heart Gallery,” which starts production in August. Endeavor Content and Jamie Feldman of LGNAFC are handling worldwide sales, which will launch at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14.

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Cedric The Entertainer has joined Jeffrey Scott Collins’ comedy feature, “Poor Greg Drowning,” as the film’s narrator and as an executive producer, Variety has learned exclusively.

“Poor Greg Drowning” centers on a love addict played by Graham Sibley, whose longtime girlfriend cheated on him and left him for their couples therapist. Depressed, heartbroken, and unemployed, he is forced to find a roommate but scares all potential roommates away — except for a woman, portrayed by Marguerite Gioia Insolia, who moves in and causes him to fall in love with her.

PRODUCTION START

Film financing company the Lagralane Group is joining forces with Night Owl Republic Films to produce the upcoming apocalyptic thriller “G.O.D,” Variety has learned exclusively.

The film will be helmed by Addison Henderson, and set in Henderson’s hometown of Buffalo, NY. Principal photography is starting Wednesday.

The cast includes Jonathan Sterritt, Lou Lombardi, Henderson as “Phog” and Lagralane principals Jason Delane Lee and Yvonne Huff Lee.

PROJECT LAUNCH

Chinese producer James Su (“The Other Side of the Wind”) has tapped Dax Phelan to write immigrant story “Footprints of the Dragon” for Cinehenge.

The exact plot is being kept under wraps, but the story is about Chinese immigrants’ contribution to the construction of America’s first Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s. Eric M. Klein (“Chimera Strain”) will produce alongside Su under the latter’s Cinehenge banner.

“As an immigrant myself, I wish to shed light on the plight of the many Chinese immigrants who came to America in search of an opportunity, faced adversity, took on the most dangerous tasks that nobody else wanted to do, and ultimately became the unsung heroes behind the single greatest feat of engineering in U.S. history,” Su said.