EXCLUSIVE: Daisy Ridley Thriller ‘The Marsh King’s Daughter’ Adds ‘Sunshine’ & ‘Hanna’ Cinematographer Alwin Küchler

The Ronin can confirm that German cinematographer Alwin Küchler has joined the upcoming Neil Burger-directed thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter. The pic begins shooting this month in Toronto with Star Wars actors Daisy Ridley and Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom, Killing Them Softly) taking main roles.

Helena Pelletier has a loving husband, two beautiful daughters, and a business that fills her days. But she also has a secret: she is the product of an abduction. Her mother was kidnapped as a teenager by her father and kept in a remote cabin in the marshlands of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Helena, born two years after the abduction, loved her home in nature, and despite her father’s sometimes brutal behavior, she loved him, too…until she learned precisely how savage he could be. More than twenty years later, she has buried her past so soundly that even her husband doesn’t know the truth. But now her father has killed two guards, escaped from prison, and disappeared into the marsh. The police begin a manhunt, but Helena knows they don’t stand a chance. Knows that only one person has the skills to find the survivalist the world calls the Marsh King–because only one person was ever trained by him: his daughter. 

His feature film credits include Joe Wright’s Hanna, Neil Burger’s Divergent, Danny Boyle films Sunshine and Steve Jobs alongside additional photography for Netflix’s Project Power. Alwin recently worked on the MARV Films’ video game development biopic Tetris directed by Jon S. Baird (Filth) and stars Taron Edgerton (Rocketman, Eddie The Eagle, Kingsman 1-2).

Writers Mark L. Smith (Overlord, The Revenant, The Midnight Sky) and Elle Smith adapted the Karen Dionne novel for the screen. Mark was also working with Quentin Tarantino to develop a Star Wars film for Paramount that seemingly has stalled.

Mendelsohn will reprise his Marvel Cinematic Universe role, Talos, in the Disney+ series Secret Invasion. The Marvel sci-fi show will focus on the shape-shifting Skrulls replacing superheroes as the aliens attempt to invade Earth. It’s possible he’ll also appear in Nia DaCosta’s Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels.

A release date for The Marsh King’s Daughter hasn’t been set.

Brad Pitt & Hugh Jackman Being Eyed For Gritty Thriller ‘SoHo Sins’ From South Korean Director Im Sang-Soo

A new report from outlet Yonhap News (spotted by The Playlist) is suggesting that South Korean director Im Sang-Soo is about to make is English-langague debut with SoHo Sins, a thriller that takes place within the art scene in New York City, with actors Brad Pitt and Hugh Jackman being eyes for the lead roles.

They claim this information comes from Yeolmae Entertainment and it’s budget is $30 million.

Hollywood stars Hugh Jackman and Brad Pitt are being considered for lead roles in the 33 billion won (US$30 million) project, it added.


After the massive success of Best Picture winner Parasite, it feels like general western audiences are truly getting on board for more films coming from South Korean filmmakers, something that has been a trend within the film community for decades now.

The project is an adaptation of the Richard Vine novel.

They were the New York art scene’s golden couple until Amanda Oliver was found murdered, and her husband Philip confessed to shooting her. But was he a continent away when she died? Art dealer Jackson Wyeth sets out to learn the truth, and uncovers the secrets of Manhattan’s galleries and wild parties, a world of  beautiful girls growing up too fast and men losing their minds.  But even the worst the art world can imagine will seem tame when the final sin is revealed.

Pitt recently won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor after co-starring in Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and is currently shooting the Sony action film Bullet Train based the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kotaro Isaka.

Jackman recently worked on the Warner Bros. sci-fi thriller Reminiscence, the feature film directorial debut of Westworld series creator Lisa Joy. He’s also attached to lead Michael Mann‘s Enzo Ferrari.

Pre-production on SoHo Sins is said to begin sometime in July.

SOURCE: YONHAP NEWS

Saoirse Ronan, Sam Rockwell and David Oyelowo Join Searchlight’s London-Set Whodunit That Takes Place During The 1950s

Deadline reports that a new untitled period thriller is in development at the Disney owned Searchlight Pictures as three high-profile casting additions are announced. Director Tom George (This Country) is assembling a cast for his untitled murder mystery that includes Irish actress Saoirse Ronan (The French Dispatch), Sam Rockwell (Jojo Rabbit), and David Oyelowo (The Midnight Sky).

Here are plot and characters details of the film penned by Mark Chappell.

The story is set in 1950s London, where a desperate Hollywood film producer sets out to turn a popular West End play into a film. When members of the production are murdered, world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Rockwell) and overzealous rookie Constable Stalker (Ronan) find themselves in the midst of a puzzling whodunit within London’s glamorous Theatreland and sordid underground.

A production start isn’t mentioned but will seemingly be shot in United Kingdom.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Netflix WWII Spy Thriller ‘Munich’ Adds ‘Watchmen’s Jeremy Irons and ‘1917’s George MacKay – Filming Underway

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Netflix’s thriller Munich has landed an interesting cast that includes Jeremy Irons (Watchmen), George MacKay (1917), Jannis Niehwöhner (Mute), Liv Lisa Fries (Babylon Berlin), Erin Doherty (The Crown), Sandra Hüller (Toni Erdmann), August Diehl (A Hidden Life), Robert Bathurst (Downton Abbey), Marc Limpach (Bad Banks), and Martin Wuttke (Inglourious Basterds).

The Crown’s Christian Schwochow will be directing the thriller that takes places on the eve of WWII based on the Robert Harris book being adapted by Ben Power

The spy thriller is set in fall 1938 as Europe stands on the brink of World War II. As Adolf Hilter prepares to invade Czechoslovakia, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Irons) is desperate to find a peaceful solution.  British civil servant Hugh Legat (McKay) and German diplomat Paul von Hartmann (Niehwöhner), travel to Munich for an emergency conference. As they see if war can be averted — and at what cost — the two old friends find themselves at the center of a political plot, with their own lives in danger.

Filming is said to be underway with an expectation it will drop sometime in 2021 on Netflix.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Mads Mikkelsen and Armie Hammer To Star In Cold War Thriller ‘Billion Dollar Spy’ – Begins Shooting In Eastern Europe Next Year

Armie Hammer (Rebecca, Free Fire) and Mad Mikkelsen (Hannibal) are teaming-up for a new Cold War era thriller titled Billion Dollar Spy for director Amma Asante according to Variety. The script was penned by screenwriter Benjamin August based from a true life story written by American journalist David E. Hoffman.

Brad Reid (Hammer) is a fresh arrival at the Moscow station of the CIA when he’s approached by Soviet engineer Adolf Tolkachev (Mikkelsen). Ignoring the advice from his bosses that Tolkachev is an obvious KGB “dangle,” Reid develops a bond and unique friendship with the Russian. Reid’s faith in Tolkachev is rewarded when he hands over a treasure trove of military secrets, obtained using classic Cold War spy craft. It earns Tolkachev the nickname “The Billion Dollar Spy,” and alters the balance of power between East and West.

Hammer previously played a KGB Agent in the Guy Ritchie action comedy The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and was recently seen in the Netflix remake of Rebecca.

Filming is said to begin in 2021 and take place in Eastern Europe.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Athens-Set Thriller ‘Born To Be Murdered’ Starring John David Washington and Alicia Vikander Lands At Netflix – Produced By Luca Guadagnino

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Netflix has secured a new thriller titled Born To Be Murdered that stars Tenet’s John David Washington and Ex Machina’s Alicia Vikander that takes place in Greece. It’s unclear how much Netflix paid for the acquisition.

The film that shot back in 2019 is produced by Luca Guadagnino (Scarface) and is the directorial debut of Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, who was the second unit director on Luca’s films Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria.

Set in Athens and the Epirus region of Greece and tells of a vacationing couple, played by Washington and Vikander, who fall prey to a violent conspiracy with tragic consequences.

John recently worked with Christopher Nolan on the sci-fi action film Tenet and Alicia Vikander had been expected to shoot a sequel to Tomb Raider in the near future.

Born To Be Murdered is expected to be released sometime in 2021 but hasn’t been given a drop date officially.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Taylor Kitsch Takes Lead Role In Robert De Niro Crime Thriller ‘Wash Me In The River’ – Replaces Machine Gun Kelly

Deadline reports that rapper turned actor Machine Gun Kelly (Project Power) has dropped out of the crime thriller Wash Me In The River due to a scheduling conflict. Kelly was expected to co-star with acting legends Robert De Niro and John Malkovich in the project from director Randall Emmett.

Instead, Taylor Kistch will be taking over the lead role.

Kitsch will play a recovering addict who goes Man On Fire toward every drug dealer he thinks might have played a role in his fiance’s death. Two cops are hot on his trail. 

Taylor has had a bit of a rough career jumping into films from television with projects such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine which was success but a critical minefield leading to his historical box office bomb John Carter and Peter Berg’s less disastrous Battleship both released back in 2012.

He’s attempted to bounce back with stuff like working with the late Chadwick Boseman on the thriller 21 Bridges, the firefighter drama Only The Brave, reuniting with Peter Berg for Lone Survivor, and taking a supporting lead role in the second season of HBO’s True Detective.

Kitsch was recently attached to star in Neill Blomkamp’s upcoming horror film but remains to be seen if that project has resumed filming in New Mexico.

Filming on Wash Me In The River begins next month in Georgia and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Netflix Spends $30M To Secure Remake of Danish Thriller ‘The Guilty’ Directed By Antoine Fuqua and Starring Jake Gyllenhaal

Deadline reports that Netflix is spending a massive $30 million on securing the worldwide rights to an English remake of the Danish film Den skyldige aka The Guilty from Training Day director Antoine Fuqua and True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto.

Nightcrawler’s Jake Gyllenhaal will play 911 dispatch operator Joe Bayler. 

It takes place over the course of a single morning in a 911 dispatch call center. Call operator Joe Bayler (Gyllenhaal) tries to save a caller in grave danger—but he soon discovers that nothing is as it seems, and facing the truth is the only way out.

Here is the trailer for the original Danish film. 

SOURCE: DEADLINE

IRA Thriller ‘Borderland’ To Star John Boyega, Jack Reynor, Felicity Jones, and Jodie Turner-Smith – Shooting Early 2021 In The UK

Deadline reports that an impressive cast has been hired for an upcoming IRA thriller titled Borderland. The group of young talent assembled includes John Boyega (Detroit, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Jack Reynor (Free Fire, Midsommar), Felicity Jones (Theory of Everything, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), and Jodie Turner-Smith (Without Remorse, Nightflyers). 

Borderland will explore the violent tensions between the unwelcomed British military presence and the IRA in Northern Ireland. 

The film will follow an Irish paramilitary, Michael (Reynor), who witnesses the shooting of his pregnant wife at the hands of an SAS sergeant named Tempest (Boyega) when a border ambush goes wrong. When Tempest is sent back to London to lead a covert counter-terrorist operation, Michael joins a ruthless active service unit (ASU) wreaking havoc in the capital. For Michael, the mission is personal – to hunt down Tempest – and he’ll stop at nothing to avenge his wife’s death.

It will be directed by The Guard Brothers and the pair of siblings co-wrote the script with Ronan Bennett. 

Filming is said to begin on location in the United Kingdom starting sometime in early 2021. 

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Robert Rodriguez Thriller ‘Hypnotic’ Starring Ben Affleck To Begin Shooting July 27th At Troublemaker Studios In Austin

Despite Robert Rodriguez’s original intention to shoot his next film Hypnotic in California, the film starring Ben Affleck is instead reportedly heading to Austin, Texas. 

Even though Texas has become a new hot-spot in the United States for coronavirus, the Austin Chronicle is reporting that the Affleck project is going to attempt to begin shooting next month in the state at Robert’s Troublemaker Studios facility located in East Austin around July 27th. 

The high-end estimates of Hypnotic’s budget are said to be in the range of $80 million. However, with the explosion of new cases in Texas, I wouldn’t be shocked if the shoot is delayed beyond the summer. Production was originally planned to begin in late April.

The film’s script was penned by Rodriguez and Monsterverse screenwriter Max Borenstein (Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of The Monsters, Godzilla vs Kong). 

Ben Affleck has been set to star in Robert Rodriguez’s action-thriller Hypnotic, playing a detective who, while investigating a string of impossible high-end heists, becomes entangled in a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program.

Robert recently worked on the Netflix superhero film We Can Be Heroes along with directing on Season 2 of the Star Wars live-action series The Mandalorian for Lucasfilm/Disney. He also released the cyberpunk film Alita: Battle Angel last year for 20th Century Studios, the manga adaption was a collaboration with blockbuster filmmaker and producer James Cameron. 

I’ve learned that cinematographer David Klein, who worked with Robert on The Mandalorian, is expected to reunite with him on Hypnotic. 

If they do end up starting production this summer or fall there is a good shot that it’ll be ready for release sometime next year.

Affleck had wrapped his erotic thriller Deep Water with co-star Ana de Armas and had been shooting a smaller role in Ridley Scott’s period drama The Last Duel before the production shutdown earlier this year.

SOURCE: AUSTIN CHRONICLE