Film News Roundup: Oona Chaplin Starring in Horror Movie ‘Lullaby’
By Dave McNary
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – In today’s film news roundup, Oona Chaplin is starring in a horror movie, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation will honor Sharon Stone, FuseFX expands, and “Let’s Scare Julie” and “Stray” get distribution.
CASTING
will star in Alcon Entertainment’s horror feature “Lullaby,” based on the mythological figure Lilith.
John R. Leonetti (“Annabelle”) is attached to direct from a screenplay by Alex Greenfield and Ben Powell. “Lullaby” begins shooting in Toronto on March 24.
Alcon will fully finance the feature with Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove serving as producers. Rooted in folklore, “Lullaby” follows a new mother who discovers a lullaby in an ancient book and soon regards the song as a blessing but her world transforms into a nightmare when the lullaby brings forth the ancient demon Lilith.
Kosove and Johnson said, “’Lullaby’ is based on a uniquely original idea that draws inspiration from varied rich and often terrifying mythological accounts. We firmly believe in John’s chilling vision and it’s our hope to deliver a film that is as thrilling onscreen as it is on the page.”
Chaplin recently wrapped James Cameron’s “Avatar 3” for Fox/Disney and will reprise her role in “Avatar 4” and “Avatar 5.” Her previous credits include “My Dinner With Herve,” the FX/BBC series “Taboo” and HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
STONE HONORED
The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation will honor Sharon Stone with the Elizabeth Taylor Legacy Award.
She will be presented the award at the Foundation’s inaugural fundraising gala The Elizabeth Taylor Ball to End AIDS on April 30 at Fox Studios in Los Angeles.
“I started my quest for a vaccine and a cure at the request of Elizabeth Taylor when she asked me to fill in for her at amfAR for one night in Cannes,” Stone said. “That one night became a 22-year commitment of HIV/AIDS work, study, and fundraising around the globe and a full understanding of what commitment itself means.”
Stone accepted an invitation to serve as chairwoman of amfAR’s Campaign for AIDS Research in 1995 and has continued in that post ever since. Past recipients of the Elizabeth Taylor Legacy Award include Michael Jackson (2018), Elton John (2017), Whoopi Goldberg (2016), Nancy Pelosi (2015) and Aileen Getty (2014).
FX EXPANSION
FuseFX has announced its expansion to the Southeast U.S. with the opening of a new studio in Atlanta.
The office will serve as FuseFX’s third U.S. location. Brad Kalinoski, who has worked as a VFX artist or supervisor on over 100 feature films and episodic TV projects over a 20-year career, will lead the new office as FuseFX’s head of production and senior VFX supervisor. He’s been honored for “Black Swan” and “Lost: the Final Season.”
“Atlanta has been a hotbed for new productions, and the visual effects demand has grown exponentially,” said Kalinoski. “We plan to be fully staffed and have full capabilities in Atlanta and worldwide, to service clients and their needs. We expect to have as many as 50 personnel including mostly artists by the end of 2020.”
ACQUISITIONS
Shout! Studio has acquired North American rights to teen horror thriller “Let’s Scare Julie” from Blitz Films.
Written and directed by Jud Cremata, the cast includes Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson, Isabel May, Odessa A’zion, Brooke Sorenson and Jessica Sarah Flaum.
Caroline Couret-Delègue from Film Seekers will be handling international sales for the film, beginning at the Berlin Film Festival.
“Let’s Scare Julie” was filmed in one uninterrupted, continuous take, on a single camera. The story follows a group of teen girls setting out to scare their reclusive new neighbor, but the prank turns to terror when some of them don’t come back.
The film deal was negotiated by Shout’s Jordan Fields, Blitz Films’ Eryl Cochran, and Chris Charles and John W. Bosher of Throughline Films.
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Gravitas Ventures has acquired worldwide rights (excluding Australia and New Zealand) to Dustin Feneley’s debut feature “Stray.”
The New Zealand arthouse drama stars Arta Dobroshi (“Lorna’s Silence”) and Kieran Charnock (“The Luminaries”). The film will be released on-demand and on home video on March 24.
“Stray” follows a young man who has served time for attempting to murder the man who killed his girlfriend in a hit and run, and a woman released from a psychiatric facility far from her homeland. The two damaged strangers cross paths in the mountains in winter and fall into a complex intimate relationship.
The film is set in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. It screened for 10 weeks at a total of over 40 cinemas in New Zealand.
