EXCLUSIVE: Dakota Shapiro (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), Ben Groh (God’s Time, Mutt) and Oliver Cooper (Project X, Mindhunter) are to star in psychedelic indie movie The Lemurian Candidate after it received SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement approval.
The film, written and directed by Casey Cooper Johnson, follows three former college buddies who reunite for a backpacking trip on Mount Shasta to heal old wounds and improve their mental health. The weekend descends into madness and a quest for alien contact after one of them introduces hallucinogens into the mix.
Production is set to begin this summer in California following the go-ahead from the striking SAG.
The union’s interim agreements, aimed at keeping truly independent productions filming and retaining jobs for below-the-line workers, have come under scrutiny in recent days following the approval for more than 120 films and TV to continue. The situation was described as “the Wild West” in our deep-dive feature published yesterday. Read that for more.
Johnson is producing The Lemurian Candidate alongside Antoneta Kastrati and Casey Fenton. Jaime Gallagher is a co-producer and casting director and Unni Rai is co-producing.
Crossing Bridges Films is making the flick in association with Visual Narrative Films. Crossing Bridges is best known for 2019’s Rana, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was Kosovo’s Official Selection for the 2020 Oscar’s Best International Feature award.
Shapiro, who has a supporting role in the upcoming Hunger Games spin-off, is repped by Clear Talent Group and Henriksen Talent Management. Groh is repped by Grandview. Cooper is repped by TalentWorks, RAIN and Matt DelPiano.