Hot Project Du Jour: John David Washington & Alicia Vikander Lead Luca Guadagnino-Produced Thriller ‘Born To Be Murdered’ From Ferdinando Cito Filomarino
EXCLUSIVE: John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman), Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl), Boyd Holbrook (Logan) and Vicky Krieps (The Phantom Thread) have been set to lead cast on hot project du jour Born To Be Murdered, which will be produced by Luca Guadagnino and much of the team behind his Oscar-winner Call Me By Your Name.
Born To Be Murdered is set in Athens and the Epirus region of Greece, where a vacationing couple, played by Washington and Vikander, fall trap to a violent conspiracy with tragic consequences. Ferdinando Cito Filomarino (Antonia) will direct from a screenplay by Kevin Rice. Production is currently underway in Greece.
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Producers are Luca Guadagnino and longtime collaborator Marco Morabito for their Frenesy Films, along with longtime co-producer Francesco Melzi and Gabriele Moratti with their MeMo outfit which is also the lead financier. Call Me By Your Name producer Rodrigo Teixera (RT Features) and Rai Cinema also financed.
Endeavor Content reps world sales on the under-the-radar project will be a hot one in the Cannes market next month.
The film’s crew is equally impressive. Cinematographer is Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Call Me By Your Name), composer is Oscar-winner Ryuichi Sakamoto (The Revenant) and editor is Guadagnino regular Walter Fasano (Call Me By Your Name).
Cito Filomarino was second unit director on Guadagnino-directed trio Suspiria, Call Me My Your Name and A Bigger Splash and made his feature debut on 2015 biopic Antonia, which chronicles the last ten years of the young Italian poet Antonia Pozzi. The film played at festivals including Karlovy Vary, Torino, Seattle and Gothenburg. The director, the great nephew of iconic Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti, is making his English-language debut on Born To Be Murdered.
Call Me By Your Name outfit Frenesy teamed up with MeMo Films on Guadagnino’s latest feature Suspiria. The latter is currently producing Guadagnino’s upcoming documentary Salvatore, Shoemaker Of Dreams about designer Salvatore Ferragama. Meanwhile, Rodrigo Teixera (Ad Astra) and Guadagnino are currently in pre-production on Blood On The Tracks, the next film to be directed by Guadagnino, who will be in Cannes this year with short film The Staggering Girl.
Cito Filomarino stated, “Born to Be Murdered is my take on the manhunt thriller, as inspired by so many movies and books I always admired. I have worked for years in creating its specific tone and story with the tireless support of my writer Kevin Rice, and I am honored to have the extraordinary John David Washington join me to portray the restless and conflicted journey of such a special character. I am thrilled and to be working with the wonderful Alicia Vikander, the beautifully intense Vicky Krieps, the superb Boyd Holbrook. With this incredible cast and with my unique collaborators, Born to Be Murdered will be a fantastic experience that pushes genre to a new place.”
Guadagnino, Morabito, Melzi and Moratti added in a joint statement, “We have been working with Ferdinando for ten years, following and supporting his career since the beginning. He is an exciting new voice in international cinema, and with Born To Be Murdered, he has the chance to be embraced in a bigger scope and in partnership with such a prestigious cast, composed of some of the best and most interesting performers in the world, especially the wonderful John David Washington whom we believe is one of the most compelling performers around.”
BlacKkKlansman and Ballers star Washington was recently cast in Christopher Nolan’s next film for Warner Bros, slated for a July 2020 release. Oscar-winner Vikander recently starred in the Warner Bros/ MGM remake of Tomb Raider and will soon begin production in Ireland on David Lowery’s The Green Knight.
Predator, Logan and Narcos star Holbrook will next be seen in Tribeca debut Two/One and he will star opposite Michael C. Hall in Netflix thriller In the Shadow of the Moon. Krieps shot to fame thanks to a starring role opposite Daniel Day Lewis in The Phantom Thread. Recent productions include TV mini-series Das Boot, Barry Levinson’s feature Harry Haft and Dan Friedken’s Lyrebird opposite Guy Pierce.
Cito Filomarino is represented by Cinetic Media and WME; Washington is represented by WME and Hansen, Jacobsen, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman, LLP; Vikander is represented by UTA and Tavistock Wood Management; Krieps is represented by Agence Adequat (France), Agentur Homebase (Germany) and Tavistock Wood; and Holbrook is represented by CAA and lawyers Morris Yorn.
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