Indie film studio LD Entertainment announced on Friday that will produce writer-director Sean Ellis’ original horror script “Eight for Silver.”
Boyd Holbrook (“Narcos,” “Logan”) is set to star in the 19th century horror film alongside Kelly Reilly (“Yellowstone,” “True Detective”) and Alistair Petrie (“The Night Manager,” Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”).
“Eight for Silver” is set in the French countryside and follows the story of John McBride (Holbrook), a pathologist assigned to determine if the body of a 14-year-old boy found in the woods is the work of a man or a beast.
When McBride confirms that the cause of death was a wild animal, he asks to stay on for further investigation. McBride is then welcomed as a guest into the family home of a local wealthy landowner, Seamus Laurent (Petrie), and his wife Isabelle (Reilly), who share that their own son, a friend of the victim, has been missing for two weeks. Distraught and determined to keep her daughter safe, Isabelle finds comfort in the arrival of John, while he is forced to confront the horrors of his own dark past.
“I am beyond thrilled to bring the world of ‘Eight For Silver’ to the screen,” Ellis said in a statement. “It is my hope that this reinvention of the werewolf legend will be an unsettling portrait of a community grappling with unexplained horrors, as well as a deeper exploration of the animalistic impulses that manifest from our darkest demons.”
Ellis previously worked with LD Entertainment in 2016 when he wrote and directed “Anthropoid,” a thriller based on the true story of the World War II mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution and the Reich’s third in command.
Production is set to begin in April in Cognac, France. Mickey Liddell and Pete Shilaimon of LD Entertainment are producers and the studio will fully finance the production.
“Sean’s clear vision for this film is spectacular and haunting,” Shilaimon said in a statement. “Working with him to reimagine this classic horror mythology has been a blast.”
The studio has also brought on Oscar-nominated costume designer Madeline Fontaine (“Jackie,” “Amelie”), Jean-Christophe Spadaccini (“The Bourne Identity,” “At Eternity’s Gate”) for make-up effects and animatronics team, and Oscar-nominated editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis (“The Favourite,” “The Lobster”).
In addition to “Eight for Silver,” LD’s upcoming films in 2019 include Max Minghella’s “Teen Spirit” starring Elle Fanning, “Fast Color” starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and the “Judy” biopic starring Renee Zellweger.
LD Entertainment is repped by attorney Eric Thompson. Ellis is repped by ICM Partners and Independent Talent. Holbrook is repped by CAA and Morris, Yorn, Barnes, Levine, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner & Gellman. Reilly is repped by ICM Partners and Troika. Petrie is repped by Roxane Vacca Management and Link Entertainment.