Billie Lourd (FX’s “American Horror Story”, Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl), Devon Ross (MUBI’s My First Film, A24/Max’s “Irma Vep”), and Colleen Camp (Apocalypse Now, Alexander Payne’s Election) have joined the cast of action crime thriller, The Deputy. The trio joins Duke Nicholson (Us, Hand of Dante), William H. Macy (Fargo, Magnolia), Tiffany Haddish (Universal’s Girls Trip), Stephen Dorff (Max’s “True Detective” and “The Righteous Gemstones”) and Julia Fox (A24’s Uncut Gems, Stephen Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move and Presence) who were announced last year for the pic.
Matt Sukkar makes his feature directorial debut from a script written by “Narcos” and “Griselda” co-creator/writer Carlo Bernard, based acclaimed “Gun Monkeys” author Victor Gischler’s 2009 novel. In the film, Nicholson stars as Toby Sawyer, a part-time deputy who, in the dead of night, is jolted awake by Chief Krueger (Macy) to guard a dead body until the coroner arrives. When the corpse mysteriously vanishes, Toby launches a frantic search and unwittingly discovers decades of wrongdoing…and several cops who have turned a blind eye, including Deputy Billy Banks (Dorff) who pressures Toby to ignore his findings. Only Deputy Amanda Jackson (Haddish) appears trustworthy. Desperate to keep his job, Toby must unravel the town’s deep web of corruption before his career – and his life – end up as dead as the missing cadaver.
Production starts this week in Mississippi with international sales agent Highland Film Group hard at work at the Marché Du Film, having landed multiple deals; Sales include Splendid Film for Germany, Blue Swan Entertainment for Italy, VVS Films for Canada, Rialto Distribution for Australia and New Zealand, Mis.Label for Scandinavia, Premiere TV for Benelux, Galapagos Films for Poland, Cinemundo for Portugal, Feelgood Entertainment for Greece, Stars Media for Ex-Yugoslavia, Cinetel for Hungary, The Plot Pictures for the Middle East, and Cinesky for airlines rights.
The Deputy is produced by Andrew Stevens (The Boondock Saints, The Pledge) under his Andrew Stevens Entertainment banner, next to HBK F.C.’s Hicham Benkirane (Murder City) whose lavel developed and packaged the project with Sukkar, who is also producing. Exec producers are Gischler and Bernard, and actors Haddish and Dorff, along with Brendan Thomas, John Burnham and Daisy Burnham, Mark Canton (300, Den of Thieves), Dorothy Canton, David Lipper, Robert A. Daly, Ryan Winterstern, and BondIt Media Capital.
In addition to world sales, Highland Film Group is also exec producing and co-financing.
“We are ready to roll into production on this highly original project, which has a distinctive tone, and we’re delighted to be working with such a superb ensemble cast. “Narcos’” Carlo Bernard has written a deeply layered crime story filled with betrayal and secrets, based on Victor Gischler’s searing novel,” said Highland Film Group CEO Arianne Fraser. “With the help of our terrific international partners, we look forward to introducing this high-stakes thriller reminiscent of the Coen Brothers to audiences around the world,” added Highland Film Group COO Delphine Perrier.
Highland Film Group’s current slate also includes Justin Chadwick’s action spy-thriller The Mark starring Jessica Alba; Martin Campbell’s action-thriller Dedication starring Daisy Ridley; Adrian Grunberg’s action-thriller Protector starring Milla Jovovich; Justin Chadwick’s action thriller Sierra Madre starring Kiefer Sutherland; the action crime thriller Wardriver starring Dane DeHaan and Sasha Calle; Allan Ungar’s action-comedy London Calling starring Josh Duhamel and Jeremy Ray Taylor; and the sci-fi thriller The Astronaut from producer Brad Fuller and starring Kate Mara and Lawrence Fishburne, which had its world premiere at SXSW.
Lourd is repped by CAA, Ross is repped by Luber Roklin Entertainment, Camp is repped by Gersh Agency.