Cannes award-winning Best Actor Timothy Spall, pictured in Harry Potter, is set to star in Radiant Films International’s upcoming supernatural thriller The Changeover, to be directed by Stuart McKenzie and Miranda Harcourt, Bloody Disgusting learned ahead of Cannes.
Also starring are Melanie Lynskey (The Intervention), Charlie Heaton (Intruders) and Lucy Lawless (“Ash Vs. Evil Dead”, “Battlestar Galactica,”, “Xena: Warrior Princess”).
Sixteen year-old Laura Chant lives in a low-rent suburb on the edge of earthquake-scarred Christchurch with her mother and four-year-old brother, Jacko. When an ancient spirit attacks Jacko and slowly drains the life out of him, Laura discovers her true identity and the supernatural ability within her, which she must harness to save her brother’s life.
Other main roles are filled by New Zealand up-and-comers Erana James, Stefania LaVie Owen, and internet sensation Jamie Curry.
Stuart McKenzie also wrote the screenplay which is based on the best-selling Young Adult novel “The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance” by New Zealand author Margaret Mahy.
Mahy is internationally renowned as the godmother of the wildly popular Young Adult genre and has won many prestigious literary awards for her work on children’s and young adult books, including the Carnegie Medal twice (UK’s oldest and most prestigious book award for children’s writing); and the Hans Christian Andersen Award (the “little Nobel”), given biennially, and the highest international accolade available in recognition of a “lasting contribution to children’s literature”.
Firefly Films’ Emma Slade is producing and the film is slated to begin principal photography in August 2016 in the New Zealand town of Christchurch.
Visual effects for the film will be created by Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post, a purpose-built post-production facility that provides award-winning sound and picture-finishing alongside industry-leading development of digital workflows. The company has provided visual effects for such films as The Hobbit trilogy, The Lovely Bones, District 9 and recently the US remake of the classic epic Ben Hur.
