Anna Kendrick Sets Directorial Debut With True Crime Thriller ‘The Dating Game’
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Anna Kendrick is set to make her directorial debut with the true crime thriller The Dating Game from Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios.
Kendrick will also produce and star in the flick, which is from a Black List script by Ian MacAllister McDonald and is based on the stranger-than-fiction true story of Cheryl Bradshaw, who was a bachelorette on the hit 70s TV matchmaking show The Dating Game and chose handsome and funny bachelor number one, Rodney Alcala. But behind Alcala’s charming façade was a deadly secret: he was a psychopathic serial killer
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“I’ve loved this script from the moment I read it,” Kendrick said. “And while I was obviously thrilled to be playing the character of Sheryl, I felt so connected to the story, the tone, and the themes around gender and intimacy, that when the opportunity came up to direct the film, I jumped at it. It feels meant to be. The support I’ve received already from Stuart Ford and everyone at AGC, Vertigo, and BoulderLight has been inspiring and empowering.”
AGC Studios is fully financing and co-producing The Dating Game with J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules for BoulderLight Pictures (Gone in the Night, Becky, The Vigil) and Roy Lee and Miri Yoon for Vertigo Entertainment. The film is currently in pre-production with principal photography scheduled for late October. Additional casting is ongoing.
Ford added: “Anna has such an innate feeling for the characters in this film and the tone of the movie, it makes absolute sense for her to step behind the camera and direct it and to back her vision for the film to move forward alongside our partners at BoulderLight and Vertigo.”
AGC International launched international sales on the project in Cannes with UTA/CAA jointly representing the sale for domestic.
Other projects from Kendrick’s production company, Let’s Go Again, include the anthology series Love Life for HBO Max, the sci-fi thriller Stowaway for Netflix, and the upcoming Lionsgate feature film Alice, Darling, which will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The actress will do a presentation with Ford for international distributors in Toronto.
Kendrick is repped by CAA and Range Media Partners and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich & Gellman. AGC’s SVP of Legal & Business Affairs Anant Tamirisa negotiated the deal on behalf of AGC, and CAA and Range Media Partners negotiated on behalf of Kendrick.
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