Nicolas Pesce’s Sundance Title ‘Piercing’ Picked Up By UPHE Content Group

EXCLUSIVE: Nicolas Pesce’s horror dark comedy Piercing, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival Midnight section this year, has been acquired by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Content Group for a multi-platform release later this year. Pesce is a genre cinematic voice who has been on the rise, and he’s currently directing Sony’s re-imagining of the horror pic The Grudge which opens on August 16, 2019.

UTA Independent Film Group and Endeavor Content negotiated the deal for Piercing on behalf of the filmmaker.

Based on the novel by Ryu Murakami, Piercing follows Reed (Christopher Abbott) as he says goodbye to his wife (Laia Costa) and claims to be taking off on a business trip, but instead checks into a hotel with the intent to kill an unsuspecting victim. When he’s confronted with an alluring call girl (Mia Wasikowska) with her own dark intentions, both are consumed by a twisted game of cat and mouse. Pesce adapted the novel for the big screen with Antonio Campos, Josh Mond, Jacob Wasserman and Schuyler Weiss producing.

Pesce made his directorial debut with the award-winning 2016 Sundance feature The Eyes Of My Mother. On The Grudge, he reteams with his Piercing DP Zack Galler. Andrea Riseborough, Lin Shaye, John Cho, Demian Bichir, Betty Gilpin and Jacki Weaver star in The Grudge.

Pesce is repped by UTA, Management 360, and Nelson Davis. Galler is also represented by UTA.

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