Celebrated stunt laureate and actress Zoë Bell is gearing up to shoot rock climbing action thriller Free Fall. Zachary Levi of Shazam and Harold And The Purple Crayon fame will headline the film with cameras set to roll in New Zealand later this year.
Written by Sean Finegan and Gregg Maxwell Parker, Free Fall tells the story of a father’s attempt to reconcile with his estranged daughter in New Zealand on a rock-climbing trip that turns deadly as an accident leaves them stranded hundreds of feet in the air. As a storm sets in, the two must fight against the elements and terrifying heights in order to survive.
Free Fall also marks the latest project partnering XYZ Films and Auckland-based Tavake Ltd. (Madam) whose Tom Hern and Nua Finau are producing. Navid McIlhargey and Erik Olsen will exec produce alongside, Finegan, Parker and Levi.
Levi is an accomplished American actor and singer. His select credits also include hit TV series “Chuck,” and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, as well as upcoming Sony release Harold And The Purple Crayon which opens in August.
Bell is a decorated actress and stunt multi-hyphenate who has worked with the likes of Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill, The Hateful Eight, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Death Proof), Josh Waller (Raze, Camino), and Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) to name a few. Bell also served as second unit director on Waititi’s upcoming Time Bandits revival set over at Apple.
Finegan and Parker have collaborated on numerous spec sales in a range of genres over the years. Free Fall reteams the two in what is being billed as “a blend of their individual styles.” Parker is the author of the popular middle grade book “Troublemakers,” which has a sequel due out in 2024. Finegan is developing and executive producing the spy thriller series Unknown at Netflix with Dark Castle, Liam Neeson, Jaume Collet-Serra, Karl Gajdusek, Speed Weed, and Free Fall collaborator Erik Olsen executive producing.
“This script is the perfect combo of heartfelt and heart stopping. Between the producing team, the cast and the NZ crews, words don’t do justice to how thrilled I am to be bringing this film home! Also, my Dad’s there so…” said Bell.
“We’re very excited to embark on this film with so many longtime friends: Sean wrote the script after working with us as an executive on the Warner Bros lot. And that’s where we met Zac while he was shooting Chuck on Stage 4 and befriended Zoë after seeing her brilliant stunt work in Kill Bill,” said producers McIlhargey and Olsen.
Hern and Finau added, “We are stoked to be teaming up with the guys at XYZ again to help bring Zoë Bell’s feature debut to the world. Zoë’s an incredible talent and an iconic Kiwi. The script sets the table not only for her renowned action direction chops, but also plenty of heart and humanity.”
Bell is repped by CAA and Dash Aiken & Rock Shaink of Romark Entertainment. Levi is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and McKuin Frankel Whitehead. Finegan is repped by Verve, Anonymous Content and attorney Lawrence Kopeikin. Hern and Finau are repped by Kaplan/Perrone. Parker is repped by attorney Lawrence Kopeikin. McIlhargey and Olsen are repped by Tifanie Acosta at Entertainment Law Partners.
Current titles from the XYZ Films studio include Sundance title Skywalkers: A Love Story which sold to Netflix, IFC Films’ Blackberry, Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils, Eiza González and Aaron Paul thriller Ash, recent TIFF acquisition Backspot, upcoming Netflix Original action thriller Havoc, and Nacho Vigalondo’s Daniela Forever. The label is also home to a vast library of genre crowdpleasers like The Dead Lands and The Raid franchise,as well as Headshot, South African Western Five Fingers For Marseilles, Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Jallikattu, and Nicolas Cage thriller Mandy.
