IN COLD LIGHT: XYZ Films At Cannes, Cast Announced For New Crime Thriller
Maika Monroe and Oscar-winning actor Troy Kotsur have been cast as leads in the crime thriller, In Cold Light. Maxime Giroux (Félix et Meira, The Great Darkened Days) will make his first English-speaking feature, with Kotsur debuting in his first feature role following Sian Heder’s Coda.
Here is the logline: “Ava is trapped. Like a bull in a bucking chute, seconds before exploding onto the rodeo stage. She is hunted. Pursued by those who killed her brother, pursued by her own demons. Ava needs to make a choice. To either save herself and fight another day or to push and become the woman she wishes she could be.”
In the film, Monroe will play Kotsur’s daughter.
Giroux will direct from a script by Patrick Whistler. Mike MacMillan (Mobile Homes) and Yanick Letourneau (Night Of The Kings) are producing, with Jean-Yves Roubin (Titane) co-producing. XYZ Films is exec producing and financing with investment funding coming from IPR.VC, and with the support of Telefilm Canada and SODEC.
The film is set to go into production later this year. XYZ Films is handling world rights and will introduce the film to buyers at the upcoming Marché du Film in Cannes.
Monroe had her breakthrough headlining the celebrated horror film It Follows, which won her several accolades, including an Empire Award nomination. Her credits also include The Guest, sci-fi thriller Tau and the psychological thriller Greta, as well as Chloe Okuno’s Watcher, and will next appear in Oz Perkin’s Nic Cage starrer Long Legs, currently in post and to be distributed domestically by Neon.
Coda earned Kotsur a number of accolades making him the first Deaf, male actor to win an Academy Award, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Critics’ Choice Award, Independent Spirit Award, and more. His illustrious theater career also includes multiple roles in the Tony Award winning “Big River” on Broadway, as well as Jim Carrey starrer The Number 23, and Deborah Levine’s Wild Prairie Rose, hit TV shows “Criminal Minds” and “The Mandalorian,” the latter for which he created the Tusken sign language.
Giroux’s Félix et Meira earned more than twenty prizes out of over sixty festivals. It was released theatrically in over fifteen territories including France, Canada, and the United States, and was tapped as Canada’s Oscar foreign-language film contender 2016. His subsequent feature, The Great Darkened Days, premiered at TIFF 2018 and went on to win five Canadian Screen Awards. After years helming in the Quebecois industry, Maxime is now making a conscious move to more commercial work with a clear international focus.
“I am so excited to get this film underway. The cast and filmmaking team, most that I’ve worked with for years, is incredible. After years honing and fine-tuning, we’re to shoot this wild ride,” says Giroux.
“This film is going to be stunning. Kinetic,” say Letourneau and MacMillan. “The gritty thriller at the core of the film promises to elevate in the hands of Maxime and this excellent cast. We’re crafting something unique and with a genuine signature. We simply cannot wait to share this one with audiences.”
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of In Cold Light,” says XYZ’s Todd Brown. “Writer Patrick Whistler has quickly become one of our favorite screenwriters on the planet; director Maxime Giroux is the heir apparent to the filmmaking tradition that has already brought talents like Denis Villeneuve and Jean Marc Vallee to the world; the producing team’s recent credits read like a who’s who of recent Cannes and Venice phenoms; Maika Monroe is quickly developing into one of the truly iconic performers of her generation; and what’s left unsaid about Troy Kotsur coming off his very well deserved Oscar win for CODA? This team is an absolute powerhouse.”
Monroe is repped by WMA and Entertainment 360. Kotsur is repped by Verve Talent and Literary Agency and Metric Talent and Literary Management.
Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.
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