Jeremy Piven (Entourage), William Moseley (The Chronicles of Narnia), Tim McInnerny (Gladiator 2) and singer and actress Pixie Lott are due to star in an upcoming psychological thriller from Manchester’s Grimmfest chief Simeon Halligan (The Blood Lands).
Film Mode Entertainment is handling sales on the project, which is due to start filming in February 2025 in Manchester, UK. Local indie legends James are on scoring duties and the script is from Halligan, Dean Lines and Ray Bogdanovich (Hounded).
Past Life follows Jason Frey (Moseley), an investigative reporter who reluctantly agrees to attend a hypnotism event with his pregnant wife Claira (Lott). Under hypnosis, Jason witnesses a murder through the eyes of a psychotic killer. Haunted by what he has seen, Jason partners with the hypnotist (Piven) to use ‘past life regression’ techniques to investigate a series of unsolved murders from the 1980s while unwittingly reawakening a psychotic killer.
The film is produced by Rachel Richardson-Jones – Halligan’s colleague at genre fest Grimmfest Films, Pierre Romain of Worldwide Entertainment and Media (Son of the South), and Michael Laundon of M2 MediaPost (Endless). Executive producers are Michael Bassick (Hacksaw Ridge) and Clay Epstein. According to the team, the film is financed through a combination of private equity, a sales MG and the recently increased UK Film tax credit, with support from Manchester film studio, The Vectar Project.
“We are thrilled to be working with the incredible Past Life team, and to have launched the film to the global marketplace at AFM,” said Clay Epstein, president of Film Mode Entertainment. “The immense talent in front of and behind the camera, along with a captivating and gripping story will have audiences on the edge of their seats from start to finish.”
The project has been in development for some time, and last year Emile Hirsch, Suzy Eddie Izzard, Antonia Thomas and John Hannah were attached but are no longer involved.
Pic: James, by Anna Hanks/Creative Commons
