It was last Fall when stuntwoman and stunt coordinator Shauna Duggins won Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or Variety Program, effectively becoming first woman to win in the category at the Creative Arts Emmys.
Deadline broke the news at the time prior to following up with Ms. Duggins’ career progression signing with Sentient Entertainment to become a director and thus, the longtime stunt professional will now have her turnabout with Guardian, according to Anthony D’Alessandro.
Billed as a “gritty action drama” that is “in the spirit of The Professional and Man on Fire”, Guardian, is described as the multi-layered story of an elite assassin entangled in a mob power struggle and a crisis of conscience after unwittingly assuming guardianship for the son of the last man he killed.
Duggins, whose extensive and decorated stunt career on projects like Charlie’s Angels, Torque, Elektra, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Fast Five, Peppermint and Netflix series, Glow, will direct from script by Cory Byam (The Temp Agency).
McG, director of Charlie’s Angels 1 & 2 and Terminator: Salvation and Mary Viola will produce for Wonderland alongside Chartier and Dominic Rustam of Voltage whose Jonathan Deckter of Voltage will exec produce with Wonderland’s Steven Bello.
Duggins will also partner with long-time collaborator Brian Machleit (stunt coordinator on The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road, Avatar, The Aviator, and Training Day), who will reportedly “take an active role on set”.
“My partner Brian and I are excited to take our collaboration with McG to the next level on Guardian, a film that explores the unlikely bond between an assassin and the child he’s grudgingly sworn to protect through a journey jam packed with groundbreaking action and heart wrenching emotion,” said Duggins. “We couldn’t be happier to be working with the prolific team of Voltage and Wonderland.”
“Shauna is an incredible artist who has been instrumental in giving some of film and television’s most popular female action heroes their kick-ass skills on screen,” said Chartier. “The time is right for her to move into the directing chair and we can think of no other filmmaker who has the action chops to deliver Guardian as the powerhouse, don’t forget to breathe rollercoaster. We’re thrilled to support her directorial debut alongside our friends at Wonderland, who share our commitment to working with female filmmakers at all stages along the production pipeline.”
“Shauna has a unique vision on both the story and the action for this film,” added McG. “We are delighted to be a part of her well-deserved ascension to the director chair.”