Julia Butters, Jacob Tremblay, Martin Freeman & Taylor Schilling Set For Horror ‘Queen Of Bones’; Robert Budreau Directing For Appian Way, Lumanity Productions And Productivity Media
EXCLUSIVE: Julia Butters (The Fabelmans), Jacob Tremblay (Room), Martin Freeman (Fargo) and Taylor Schilling (Pam & Tommy) have been tapped as the leads for the folk horror film Queen of Bones, from Appian Way, Lumanity Productions and Productivity Media, which has entered production in Canada.
Queen of Bones follows twin siblings Lily (Butters) and Sam (Tremblay) who live at a remote homestead with their widowed father, Malcolm (Freeman), a violinmaker in 1931 Oregon. When Lily and Sam find an Icelandic spell book in the cellar, they begin to suspect a connection between their mother’s death and dark forces in the woods. They then embark on a dangerous mission to force their father and his friend, Ida May (Schilling), to reveal the truth.
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Robert Budreau (Delia’s Gone) is directing from a script by Michael Burgner (The Darkest Corner of Paradise).
Queen of Bones is the latest project to reteam Budreau with Productivity Media, following their work together on titles including Delia’s Gone, Stockholm and Born to Be Blue. Producers include Appian Way’s Jennifer Davisson and Michael Hampton; Budreau through his Lumanity Productions; and Productivity Media’s William G. Santor (Four Good Days), Doug Murray (Unplugging) and Ryan Reaney (The Immaculate Room, Stockholm).
“I am thrilled to be working with such a stellar cast to bring this amazing Depression-era folk horror script to life,” said Budreau. “And I’m equally excited to be collaborating with Appian Way and my past partners at Productivity Media.”
“We are so happy to be back in business with Robert as director on another film for Productivity Media,” added Santor. “He has a great creative voice, and we are thrilled to be on this journey with him and our award-winning and collaborative partners at Appian Way.”
Budreau made his feature directorial debut with 2006’s That Beautiful Somewhere, and has more recently directed such features as the Chet Baker drama Born to Be Blue, starring Ethan Hawke; the crime comedy Stockholm, with Hawke, Noomi Rapace and Mark Strong; and the thriller Delia’s Gone. The latter title, starring Stephan James, Paul Walter Hauser, Travis Fimmel, Marisa Tomei and more, was released in theaters nationwide by Vertical Entertainment on August 19.
Butters broke out with her Critics’ Choice Award-nominated role as Trudi Fraser in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, and can currently be seen in the Netflix tentpole The Gray Man, from directors Joe and Anthony Russo. The actress has also appeared on series like Transparent and will next be seen in Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical drama The Fabelmans for Universal.
Tremblay is a Critics Choice Award winner and SAG Award nominee best known for turns in films like Room and Wonder. He voiced the lead role in Disney/Pixar’s Luca, and has also been seen in big-screen titles like Doctor Sleep, Good Boys, The Predator and Before I Wake, among others. Additional upcoming projects on the part of the actor include Netflix’s animated film My Father’s Dragon from Cartoon Saloon’s Nora Twomey, Macon Blair’s adaptation of The Toxic Avenger, Disney’s new, animated The Little Mermaid film and Travis Knight’s Wildwood for Laika.
Freeman is an Emmy and BAFTA Award winner known for his portrayal of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit films who has more recently appeared in features like Black Panther, Cargo, Captain America: Civil War and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. He stars in FX’s series Breeders and also recently appeared in Peacock’s miniseries, Angelyne. Other notable TV credits include Sherlock, Fargo and BBC’s The Office. Freeman will soon reprise his Marvel role as Everett K. Ross in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and the Disney+ Marvel series, Secret Invasion.
Schilling is an Emmy and Golden Globe nominee best known for lead role in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black who has more recently been seen in Hulu’s Emmy nominated series, Pam & Tommy. The actress has also appeared in films including The Overnight, Argo, The Lucky One and Dark Matter, among others. Additional upcoming projects include the AMC+ animated series Pantheon and Jason Katims’ show Dear Edward for Apple TV+.
Appian Way Productions is a Los Angeles-based film and television production company founded by Leonardo DiCaprio, where Davisson serves as president of production. Since its 2001 launch, the company has released such decorated films as The Revenant, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Aviator, Shutter Island, Out of the Furnace, The Ides of March, Before the Flood, Virunga, Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, The Ivory Game, How to Change the World and Catching the Sun, among others. Recently released projects included Sea of Shadows with National Geographic, Ice on Fire with HBO, Kid 90 for Hulu, and Eli Roth’s Fin for Discovery+, as well as the Apple TV+ series Shining Girls starring Elisabeth Moss. Upcoming releases include Roosevelt and Sitting Bull, both for The History Channel, and MGM’s Jim Jones, which is currently in pre-production.
Budreau’s film and television production company, Lumanity, has produced 10 features, including Born to be Blue, Stockholm and the recently released Delia’s Gone.
Established in 2012, Productivity Media develops, co-produces and finances original film and TV content for the global marketplace. Notable past releases include Rodrigo Garcia’s Four Good Days, starring Mila Kunis & Glenn Close, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song; Black Bear, starring Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon; Percy Vs Goliath, starring Christopher Walken and Christina Ricci; and Born to Be Blue. Upcoming titles include the thriller Unit 234, directed by Andy Tennant and starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Jack Huston, and Don Johnson, as well as Jonathan Sobol’s sci-fi thriller, tentatively titled Littlemouth, starring Fuhrman, Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis and Josh Hutcherson.
Butters is represented by UTA, Anonymous Content and Peikoff Mahan Law Office; Tremblay by UTA, Play Management and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Freeman by CAA, the UK’s Creative Artists Management and Felker Toczek Suddleson; Schilling by Gersh, Untitled Entertainment and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; Budreau by CAA and Echo Lake Entertainment; and Burgner by attorney Hannah Mulderink.
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