Ella Purnell is having quite the run as of late. She starred in the massively popular first season of Showtime’s Yellowjackets (and, well, had something of a more limited role in season two), popped up in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, went on to voice Jinx in Netflix’s animated series Arcane, and recently appeared on the TV screens of many, many millions of people as the lead in Prime Video’s blockbuster genre series, Fallout (which was recently picked up for a second season, don’tcha know).
With a schedule like that, you’d think Purnell might want a wee bit of time off, but you’d be wrong: according to a new report at Screen Daily, the actress has signed on to star in Craig Roberts’ forthcoming horror comedy, The Scurry. She’s joining a cast which already includes Rhys Ifans, Paapa Essiedu, and Antonia Thomas, all of them working from a script from The Match Report scribe Tim Telling.
So, what’s The Scurry about? We’re glad you asked:
“The film follows two pest controllers called to a country park café to investigate a routine vermin problem, only for an avalanche of deranged squirrels to descend at nightfall, wreaking mayhem on the staff and visitors in the park.”
That’s right: The Scurry is a creature feature horror-comedy, and the creatures are killer squirrels (to be fair, the description above reads “deranged squirrels” and only speaks to the “mayhem” that they cause, but come on: you just know these squirrels are gonna be violent psychopaths)(and if they’re not, then maybe we shouldn’t even bother).
Here’s James Scott, one of the Executive Producers on The Scurry, offering up a very memorable quote about Purnell’s casting:
”Fallout is the biggest show on the planet right now, so to have the lead actress join our squirrel movie is incredibly exciting for the production team and our worldwide distribution partners.”
Incredibly, this will not be cinema’s first killer squirrel movie. A cursory glance at some Google search results turns up a 2008 film called Killer Squirrels as well as a 2014 horror film, Squirrels. Will The Scurry emerge as the best killer squirrel movie ever made? We have no idea, but we do know that those other killer squirrel movies do not feature Yellowjackets and Fallout star Ella Purnell, and that they are therefore starting at a disadvantage. This is your crown to lose, The Scurry!
Nothing further to report on The Scurry at this time, but we’ll keep you updates as further information rolls in. Stay tuned for that, folks!
