Recent News
Casting More CRAZIES
By Dave Dreher

Mar 3, 2009 - 5:55:43 PM

As the production date nears more casting news oozes forth.

Here is the complete press release that I got tonight:

Danielle Panabaker (Friday the 13^th) 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 5^th with additional shooting to occur in Iowa.

Panabaker, who is coming off her recent starring role in the slasher blockbuster hit Friday the 13^th 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.