Movies
Amber Heard to Topline John Carpenter’s ‘The Ward’
The legendary John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog, In the Mouth of Madness, The Thing), will direct The Ward, written by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen. Amber Heard (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) has signed on to star. The Ward is an intense psychological thriller set in a mental institution where a young woman, Kristen (played by Heard) is haunted by a mysterious and deadly ghost. As danger creeps closer, she comes to realize that this ghost might be darker than she could have imagined. Production is scheduled for a May start.
““The Ward” is the kind of script that I’ve been looking for: a complex, visceral story, full of suspense and scares,” said Carpenter. “I am especially pleased to be working with Amber because I know she will create a powerful central performance.”
“The Ward” is being produced by Doug Mankoff, Mike Marcus and Andy Spaulding of Echo Lake Entertainment, which recently wrapped production on “The Joneses”, co-starring Heard. Financing and producing alongside Echo Lake will be Peter Block and his recently launched company A Bigger Boat.
“Working with John Carpenter on “The Ward” is a dream come true; fans everywhere, me included, have been waiting for just this kind of thriller from him. It’s great to be able to tackle it with the Echo Lake gang whose work I’ve also admired for years,” said Block.
Heard is repped by Endeavor, Hyler Management and attorney Karl Austen. Her credits include “Pineapple Express,” “Never Back Down,” and “All The Boys Love Mandy Lane” as well as the series “Californication”. Carpenter is repped by William Morris and Echo Lake Management. Writers Michael and Shawn Rasmussen are repped by Larchmont Literary Agency.
Echo Lake has added more commercial fare such as “The Ward” and “The Joneses” to its long track record of award winning arthouse films including titles like “Tsotsi”, “Water”, and “Away From Her”. “We are excited to bring our focus on quality to bigger, more mainstream films” says Doug Mankoff, President of Echo Lake. “We saw firsthand what a great job Amber did on “The Joneses” and we knew that she and John Carpenter would make a perfect combination for “The Ward”.”
FilmNation, the sales company started by Glen Basner, will begin international sales on the film at the Berlin Film Market next week.
In addition to Leigh Whannell’s upcoming Universal Monsters movie Wolf Man, Julia Garner (The Royal Hotel) has also joined the cast of Weapons, THR has announced tonight.
Weapons is the new horror movie from New Line Cinema and director Zach Cregger (Barbarian), with Julia Garner joining the previously announced Josh Brolin (Dune 2).
The upcoming Weapons is from writer/director Zach Cregger, who will also produce alongside his Barbarian producing team: Roy Lee of Vertigo and J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules of BoulderLight Pictures. Vertigo’s Miri Yoon also produces.
The Hollywood Reporter teases, “Plot details for Weapons are being kept holstered but it is described as a multi and inter-related story horror epic that tonally is in the vein of Magnolia, the 1999 actor-crammed showcase from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.”
Cregger was a founding member and writer for the New York comedy troupe “The Whitest Kids U’Know,” which he started while attending The School of Visual Arts. The award-winning group’s self-titled sketch comedy show ran for five seasons on IFC-TV and Fuse. He was also a series regular on Jimmy Fallon’s NBC series “Guys with Kids” and the TBS hit series “Wrecked,” and was featured in a recurring role on the NBC series “About a Boy.”
Weapons will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.
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