As the production date nears more casting news oozes forth.
Here is the complete press release that I got tonight:
Danielle Panabaker (Friday the
13th) and Joe Anderson (Across
the Universe) have joined Timothy Olyphant (TV's Damages, Hitman)
and Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill, Pitch Black) in Overture Films' The Crazies, a reinvention loosely based
upon the George Romero classic, the studio announced today. The film is set to
begin principle photography in
Georgia
on March 5th with additional shooting to occur in
Iowa.
Panabaker, who is coming off her
recent starring role in the slasher blockbuster hit Friday the 13th and previously appeared alongside
Kevin Costner and Demi Moore in Mr. Brooks,
plays Becca, a receptionist at the town's medical center where Mitchell is a
doctor. Panabaker's other credits include the TV show Shark, and the acclaimed HBO mini-series
Empire
Falls.
Anderson, whose previous credits include The Ruins and Becoming Jane, will appear in Mira Nair's upcoming Amelia
Earhart biopic Amelia. In The
Crazies, he takes on the role of the town's deputy, with Olyphant
playing the sheriff.
Breck Eisner is set to direct the
screenplay about the inhabitants of a small
Kansas town beset by insanity and then death
after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply. The film is written
by Ray Wright, from an earlier draft by Scott Kosar.
Overture Films is set to produce and
distribute The Crazies with
Participant Media co-financing. Michael Aguilar (Constantine, What Happens
in Vegas), Dean Georgaris (The
Manchurian Candidate) and Rob Cowan (Righteous Kill) will produce, with George Romero (Dawn of the Dead, Creepshow) executive
producing. Maxime Alexandre (The Hills Have
Eyes, High Tension) is the Director of Photography; Andrew Menzies (War of the Worlds, 3:10 to
Yuma) is the Production Designer;
George Little (Max Payne, The Omen) is the Costume Designer; and
Billy Fox (Traitor, Hustle & Flow) is the Editor.
