Make a note of Willy’s Wonderland and Mandy star Nicolas Cage with upcomers like The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent and Sono Sion’s Prisoners Of The Ghostland, both set to bear down on the masses at some point this year for festivals and commercial audiences. He’s got another on the way that’ll have him in setting foot in the bustling filmmaking environment over at the Cayman Islands for director Tim J. Brown’s (The Cradle, upcoming Buckley’s Chance) new action thriller, The Retirement Plan.
Cage will be joined by Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Ashley Greene (Twilight franchise), Jackie Earle Haley (Shutter Island, Watchmen), Joel David Moore (Avatar), Grace Byers (Fox’s “Empire”) and Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters 1 & 2, The Crow), with NBA star-cum-actor Rick Fox (Showtime’s “Shameless,” HBO’s “Oz”), Emmy Award winner Lynn Whitfield (Madea’s Family Reunion, HBO’s “The Josephine Baker Story”) and 11-year-old newcomer Thalia Campbell rounding out the cast.
In The Retirement Plan, when Ashley (Greene) and her young daughter Sarah (Campbell) get caught up in a criminal enterprise that puts their lives at risk, she turns to the only person who can help – her estranged father Matt (Cage), currently living the life of a retired beach bum in the Cayman Islands. Their reunion is fleeting as they are soon tracked down on the island by crime boss Donnie (Haley) and his lieutenant Bobo (Perlman). As Ashley, Sarah and Matt become entangled in an increasingly dangerous web, Ashley quickly learns her father had a secret past that she knew nothing about and that there is more to her father than meets the eye.
The Retirement Plan marks the third film produced under a three-picture production deal between Darius Films and Productivity Media shooting on the Islands, amid flourishing business with Islands’ Film Commission, the Cayman’s Ministry of International Trade, Investment, Aviation and Maritime Affairs, and Dart Enterprises; Currently in toe from the same deal are recently-wrapped action drama The Baker starring Perlman and directed by Jonathan Sobol, and in-post production crime comedy Blue Iguana from director Jeremy LaLonde.
William G. Santor, CEO of Productivity Media, and Nicholas Tabarrok, President of Darius Films made the announcement on Wednesday. The two are producing alongside regular longtime collaborators Jason Jallet (Blue Iguana) and Doug Murray (The Immaculate Room). John Hills and Andrew Chang-Sang, (Black Bear, Four Good Days, Stockholm) are exec producing.
Joker Films is representing worldwide sales rights with Radiant Films International co-repping.
“The global reach and legendary appeal of Nicolas, Ashley, Jackie, Joel, Grace, Ernie, Rick and Lynn as well as gifted newcomer Thalia, is spot-on for this exciting action movie.” said Santor. “I am proud to say that we have managed to have a Ghost Rider, a Hellboy and a Rorschach in the same film together, with a Ghostbuster to keep the Ghost Rider in check! You can’t get better than that!!! And we continue to receive incredible support from the Cayman Islands Government as we start production on our third film.”
Added Tabarrok: “Having now successfully completed production on two films here in the Caymans, I’m excited and thrilled to start on the third under our three-picture deal. Tim’s script, and the appeal of working in a beautiful COVID-free paradise has attracted a phenomenal cast who I can’t wait to see bring this action-packed story to life.”
Lead pic: Nicolas Cage in “Willy’s Wonderland from Screen Media Films