Culture 3 min read By Trevor Kendall
Jonathan Rhys Meyers returns to vampire genre in Pretty Kill Machine
Jonathan Rhys Meyers is set to star in the vampire romance Pretty Kill Machine, a film Quantify is taking to international buyers ahead of the American Film Market.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers is returning to the vampire genre with the romance Pretty Kill Machine, Deadline has learned. The actor, who played Dracula for NBC and Sky roughly a decade ago, will headline the film, which is being offered to buyers worldwide ahead of the American Film Market.
Quantify, the international sales and distribution company formed by Nu Boyana Studios, Dark Matter Studios, Government Island and Film Forge Media, is handling worldwide sales for the project. The launch positions the film for distributors attending the AFM, one of the industry's principal marketplaces for independent and genre titles. The company's partnership brings together four production and finance entities, all of which are named in the launch announcement.
The casting marks a return to territory Rhys Meyers knows well. His take on Bram Stoker's count for NBC and Sky, which aired in the early 2010s, made him one of the most recognizable screen interpreters of the character in recent years. Pretty Kill Machine places him back within the vampire framework, this time in a romantic setting, a shift in tone from the gothic horror that defined his earlier portrayal.
The AFM gathers sellers and buyers from across the global film business each year. Sales launches at the market are typically used to secure territory deals and to gauge interest before a film reaches audiences. Deadline's report did not include details on the film's production schedule, budget, director or planned release window, so those remain unconfirmed.
The announcement arrives alongside other sales and casting news from the market. Variety reported that Paul Bettany is set to play an ageing popstar in the feel-good comedy It's Alright, which he also co-wrote. He will appear opposite Asha Banks, known for My Fault: London and Your Fault: London, as his estranged daughter and aspiring singer-songwriter. Colin Firth is also part of that cast, and Protagonist is launching the project for sales at the AFM. Bettany's credits include Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and VisionQuest.
Separately, Linden Entertainment has signed actor Asa Butterfield for representation. Butterfield, known for his role as Otis Milburn in Sex Education, recently made his stage debut in Barney Norris's Second Best at Riverside Studios in London. That production was based on David Foenkinos's best-selling novel of the same name. Butterfield also starred in Oscar Boyson's Our Hero, Balthazar, and the representation deal places him with a company that is actively building its roster of performers across film and television.
Source: deadline.com
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