Carry-On and Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra has lined up his next film, sticking to his knack for suspense-driven storytelling with survival thriller Play Dead.
Details on Play Dead are being kept under wraps, but the project is reportedly set to mix the claustrophobic intensity of Don’t Breathe with the relentless momentum of 1917. An ambitious, promising aim right there. The screenplay comes from Peter Stanley-Ward and Natalie Conway, who have primarily focused on shorts prior to this.
Deadline broke the news, reporting that filming is set to commence in May at NantStudios in Melbourne’s Docklands Studios. The film is being financed by Nocturnal, which is also producing alongside Ghost House Pictures, BoulderLight Pictures, and Bad Grey.
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The film’s producer team includes Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert for Ghost House; Nocturnal’s Akiva Nemetsky and Keaton Heinrichs leading the project; BoulderLight’s JD Lifshitz and Raphael Margules; and Eckerle for Bad Grey. Various producers from Ghost House and BoulderLight will be overseeing different aspects of the production, with Scott Greenberg of LBI serving as an executive producer.
Collet-Serra has built his career on suspense and spectacle, kicking off his career with horror titles like House of Wax and Orphan before transitioning into fast-paced action films such as Liam Neeson vehicles Non-Stop and The Commuter. He also directed Blake Lively film The Shallows and stepped into blockbuster territory with Dwayne Johnson films Jungle Cruise and Black Adam. His most recent success came with Netflix’s Carry-On, starring Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman. That thriller aced it with viewer numbers, amassing over 164 million views on Netflix.
He’s on a roll of projects. Before work begins on Play Dead, the director has other projects making their way to audiences. His next theatrical release, The Woman in the Yard (watch the creepy teaser for that one HERE), a horror-thriller led by Danielle Deadwyler, is set to hit in cinemas on March. Additionally, he recently wrapped production on a Cliffhanger reimagining, starring Lily James and Pierce Brosnan.
