Movies
Production Officially Underway on ‘The Tall Man’
We broke the new exclusively here on Bloody Disgusting that Teach Grant (“Fringe,” “The Dead Zone,” Hard Ride to Hell ), William B. Davis (The X-Files, The Thaw, “Fear Itself”), Samantha Ferris (Grace, “Supernatural”), Jodelle Ferland (Eclipse, Silent Hill, Case 39) and Stephen McHattie (Pontypool) would all be joining Jessica Beil in The Tall Man, a long time dream project for Martyrs director Pascal Laugier. This afternoon we received an official start of production announcement that details the plot and everything else for the film that follows Biel as a woman who must grapple with and track the mysterious figure of The Tall Man who has kidnapped her child.
Principal photography has begun on THE TALL MAN, a mystery thriller written and directed by acclaimed French director Pascal Laugier (Martyrs, Saint Ange) and starring Jessica Biel (The A-Team, Valentine’s Day) in a leading role. A suspenseful thriller in the vein of M. Night Shyamalan’s earlier films, THE TALL MAN marks Laugier’s English language debut.
Produced by SND, Radar Films’ Clement Miserez (Faces in the Crowd) and Minds Eye Entertainment’s Kevin DeWalt (Faces in the Crowd), the film will shoot for eight weeks in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. The final wrap is set for November 18th
“We are thrilled to be producers on this project and we are really looking forward to bringing this mystery to audiences worldwide,” said SND CEO Thierry Desmichelle. “Jessica Biel is a very gifted and versatile actor. Coupled with Pascal’s gripping script and innovative filmmaking, it’s the perfect recipe for quite a compelling story.”
Set in the town of Cold Rock, THE TALL MAN is a story of the haunting secrets that hide behind closed doors. With children gone missing over the years leaving neither a clue nor a witness, superstitious locals talk of `The Tall Man,’ a legendary, mysterious dark figure who takes children away never to be seen again. When a woman’s son is taken, the chase is on and with it the quest for answers: who is the Tall Man and what happens to the children?
Stephen McHattie, William B. Davis, Samantha Ferris and Jodelle Ferland, round up the cast. SND is handling international sales and will release the film in France.
Conceived as a `woman in jeopardy’ movie – an outdoor `Panic Room,’ by Laugier, THE TALL MAN is clothed in the myths of bogeymen and monsters born of the folklore common to all cultures. “It’s a story with a strong female character, a character you feel connected to,” said Laugier.
“We really believe in the story and all the talent involved in this project. Jessica Biel’s sensitivity and diverse performances are a perfect fit for the role,” adds Miserez.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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