Misha Green’s feature directorial debut is shaping up nicely as the film has added another member to its cast. Scott Speedman (The Strangers) has been tapped to play the villain in her upcoming feature Sunflower, which is in the works at Lionsgate. This, according to the folks at The Hollywood Reporter, who reveal that the film is currently gearing up to shoot in South Africa early next year.
Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey, Lovecraft Country) and Isabel May (Let’s Scare Julie, 1883) are also set to star in the film. Green previously worked with Smollett on Lovecraft Country, which she created for HBO. Even though the series was short-lived, it was met with widespread acclaim. Green previously directed an episode of that show but Sunflower will serve as the first time she has directed a movie. Green wrote the script as well. The brief logline for the film reads as follows:
“In Sunflower, two women, played by Smollett and May, struggle to escape from a deranged college professor who holds them hostage on a remote sunflower farm.”
As one might expect, Speedman will be playing the deranged college professor in question. The actor is no stranger to genre filmmaking, dating all the way back to his appearance on the Goosebumps TV series in the ‘90s. Horror fans will know Speedman best as James in The Strangers (which is getting rebooted with a new trilogy next year). But he has plenty of other horror credits under his belt including the Underworld franchise, A24’s The Monster and David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future. He’s also got another thriller called Cellar Door in the can.
Lionsgate, meanwhile, has a major relationship with horror. The studio’s biggest claim to fame in that department is the Saw franchise, which has been going strong for nearly 20 years now. The studio is also behind genre hits such as Warm Bodies, the My Bloody Valentine remake, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Sinister and Hostel, among many others. Green had this to say about the film when it was first announced:
“Sunflower was the first script I sold when I landed in Hollywood, and now having the opportunity to make it my first feature directorial outing feels like kismet. I couldn’t have hoped for better partners and collaborators than Nathan, the Lionsgate team, Craig [J. Flores], and Jurnee to help me shepherd it to the big screen.”
Sunflower does not currently have a release date.
