Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan are in negotiations to star in directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s sci-fi thriller “Synchronic.”
The film will be produced by David Lawson Jr. along with Moorhead and Benson for Rustic Films, with a script written by Benson. XYZ Films is handling international sales, with XYZ co-repping domestic rights with UTA.
The film follows two New Orleans paramedics (Mackie and Dornan) whose lives are ripped apart after encountering a series of horrific deaths linked to a designer drug with bizarre, otherworldly effects.
Mackie will next be seen in theaters this fall in Fox’s “The Hate U Give,” based on the best-selling novel by Angie Thomas, and in the remake of “Miss Bala” alongside Gina Rodriguez to be released early next year. His credits include the Jay Roach-directed adaptation of the Tony Award-winning-play “All The Way” where he played the role of Martin Luther King Jr. opposite Bryan Cranston’s Lyndon B. Johnson.
Dornan will next be seen starring in Sacha Gervasi’s “My Dinner with Herve” opposite Peter Dinklage, Matthew Heineman’s “A Private War” opposite Rosamund Pike and Otto Bathurst’s “Robin Hood: Origins” alongside Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx. He will also star in the new BBC series “Death and Nightingales.” Dornan’s credits include “Anthropoid” and BBC’s “The Fall.”
Moorhead and Benson’s previous feature “The Endless” was one of the best-reviewed movies on Rotten Tomatoes this year (‘Certified Fresh’ at 95%). Moorhead and Benson’s “Spring,” also produced by Lawson, debuted at TIFF in 2014, sold in a bidding war that year, and was called “one of the best horror films of the decade” by Guillermo Del Toro. They previously collaborated with Lawson on the Tribeca Film Festival dark horse hit “Resolution.” “Synchronic” marks their fourth feature film collaboration.
Benson and Moorhead commented, “Being huge fans of the nuanced, brilliant work of Anthony and Jamie, this is a filmmaker’s wildest dream come true. They each possess an extraordinary depth of personal experiences, humor, and pathos that brings a massive wellspring of humanity to the battle-scarred partnership being portrayed. We’ve found the perfect collaborators to tell a bold, frightening, heartstring-tugging story.”
“This is the fourth collaboration between XYZ and these phenomenal filmmakers. Their body of work thus far speaks to their confidence to go against the norm and tell genuine stories that cross-genre. We’re honored to work with them again to bring ‘Synchronic’ to audiences around the world,” said XYZ Films’ Nate Bolotin.
XYZ Films handled sales on four TIFF titles, including “The Standoff at Sparrow Creek,” directed by Henry Dunham, “The Wind,” directed by Emma Tammi, “The Man Who Feels No Pain,” directed by Vasan Bala and “The Dig,” directed by Andy Tohill & Ryan Tohill. Other current sales titles include the survival thriller “Titan,” starring Lily Collins and “Vivarium” starring Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg.
