Film News Roundup: Hilary Swank to Star as Detective in Thriller ‘Fatale’
By Dave McNary
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – In today’s film news roundup, Hilary Swank will play a seductive detective, “Dora the Explorer” starts production, and Richard Stanley’s “Malware” gets an additional producer.
CASTING
has come on board Deon Taylor’s thriller “Fatale,” which begins shooting in September in Los Angeles.
“Fatale” centers on a married man being tricked into a murder scheme by a seductive female police detective, portrayed by Swank. Taylor is directing and producing with his Hidden Empire Film Group partners Roxanne Avent and Robert F. Smith. David Loughery wrote the screenplay.
Endeavor Content will handle worldwide sales. Avent will oversee the production for Hidden Empire Film Group, which is fully financing the movie.
Swank’s family drama “What They Had” opens in October through Bleecker Street. She won Oscars for “Million Dollar Baby” and “Boys Don’t Cry.”
Swank and Taylor are both represented by WME. Swank’s attorney is Jeffrey Bernstein. The news was first reported by Deadline.
PRODUCTION START
Paramount Players has launched production on its live-action “Dora the Explorer” movie with Isabela Moner in the lead role.
The animated series aired on Nickelodeon for 172 episodes from 2000 to 2014. It centers on a young American Latina who, along with her monkey, Boots, faces riddles and characters.
“The Muppets” director James Bobin is directing from a script he co-wrote with Nick Stoller. The film also stars Eugenio Derbez, Madeleine Madden, Micke Moreno, Nicholas Coombe, Temuera Morrison, and Adriana Barraza as Dora’s grandma.
The film is a Paramount Players and Nickelodeon production in association with Walden Media. The film is being supported by the Queensland Government via Screenland Queensland. Paramount will release the film on Aug. 2, 2019.
Seventeen-year-old Moner was last seen in “Sicario: Day of the Soldado.” The film is produced by “Christopher Robin” producer Kristin Burr. Executive producers are John G. Scotti, Julia Pistor, and Derbez. “Dora the Explorer” opens Aug. 2, 2019. A first look at Moner as Dora was also released on Friday, which can be seen below.
PRODUCER ATTACHMENT
Frank Murray of London-based Lux Capta Films has signed on to the neo-noir drama “Malware” from director Richard Stanley, joining David Gregory of Severin Films as producer.
“Richard Stanley’s vision for this near-futurist retelling of ‘Dante’s Inferno’ is not only timely, but it also has all the earmarks of a cult standout among the current barrage of socially conscious thrillers,” Murray said.
Gregory said, “I wanted to find a producer who was not only excited by the story, but who also had the pedigree to uncompromisingly deliver it to the screen and Frank got it right away.”
Murray produced “First Reformed.” Stanley’s credits include “Hardware” and “Dust Devil.”
Stanley said, “’Malware’s’ inception came about as a result of the alarm felt by many over the role technology is playing in bringing about this strange new ‘dark age’ of populist sentiment. Without giving too much away, I felt inspired by the sinister nature of the dark web and its invisible hand’s effect on modern society. I think now more than ever, subversive visual storytelling is poised for a comeback, and ‘Malware’ is definitely that.”
