Academy Award winner Melissa Leo will be striking a pose for Sean Byrne’s The Mannequin at Studiocanal’s new genre label Sixth Dimension.
Genre auteur Byrne — best known for his work on the haunted house pic The Devil’s Candy starring Ethan Embry and the killer shark thriller Dangerous Animals starring Jai Courtney — will direct from his own script. Production is due to start this summer on the “serial killer procedural,” which is being described as “an original, violent and blistering high-stakes thriller.”
Studiocanal is launching worldwide sales this week in Cannes. The company will release the pic theatrically in its own territories of the U.K., France, Germany, Benelux, Poland, Australia and New Zealand. Elevation Pictures will release it in Canada.
Producing The Mannequin are William Woods, Maddy Falle for Page 12 Pictures Inc. and Kristian Moliere for Triptych Pictures. The executive producer team includes Steven Schneider, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Charlie Kemball and Jed Benedict for Studiocanal’s Sixth Dimension. Head Gear Films packaged the project with Schneider’s Room 101.
“After wading through bloodied waters together on Dangerous Animals, I’m thrilled to be alongside my friends at Studiocanal’s Sixth Dimension,” Byrne said in a statement. “I can’t wait to unleash The Mannequin on the big screen. There have been other serial killer procedurals, but this is its own thrillingly deranged beast — twisted, intense, propulsive, and anchored by a fearless performance from Melissa Leo, building to a shocking twist you won’t see coming. It’ll put you on the edge of your seat and keep you there.”
Added Jed Benedict, head of the genre division at Studiocanal: “Nostalgia exists for the best serial killer movies of the noughties for good reason; not only are they brilliantly scary and tense, but they’re meticulously written. With The Mannequin, Sean Byrne has gifted us two unforgettable characters in Charley and Sadie and then thrown them into a fast-escalating nightmare. With the extraordinary Melissa Leo set to star, and a stellar creative team, we at Sixth Dimension can’t wait for audiences to discover Sean’s terrifying manhunt thriller.”
Studiocanal’s Sixth Dimension is a genre label dedicated to “high-concept storytelling across horror, thriller, action and sci fi, the label gives creators a new dimension in which to surprise, shock and entertain,’ per the company.
Byrne is repped by the Fleming Agency, Innovative Artists Entertainment, Echo Lake Entertainment and Paul Hastings. His other credits include 2009’s The Loved Ones. Leo, who won Oscar gold for her work in David O. Russell’s The Fighter opposite Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams, has also starred in Frozen River, Prisoners, Conviction, I Know This Much is True and The Equalizer franchise, among many others. She’s repped by Gersh.
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