EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Zola Independent Spirit Award winner Taylour Paige and Cyrano actress Haley Bennett are boarding Magazine Dreams opposite Jonathan Majors.
The film follows an amateur bodybuilder (Majors) who struggles to find human connection in the exploration of celebrity and violence. The script was on the 2020 Black List, and Elijah Bynum will direct and write.
Mike O’Hearn, a four-time Mr. “Natural” Universe and Fitness Model of the Year of four years who appeared on American Gladiators, also is set to star.
Majors is executive producing under his Tall Street production banner, along with Nightcrawler producers Jennifer Fox and Dan Gilroy. Los Angeles Media Fund is fully financing, with Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman also producing. CAA Media Finance arranged financing and will handle the domestic sale.
Paige next will be seen in the reboot of Legendary’s The Toxic Avenger and starred in Lena Dunham’s recent Sundance Film Festival world premiere, Sharp Stick. Her feature credits include Oscar-winning Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, White Boy Rick and the upcoming Mack & Rita starring Diane Keaton and Brothers opposite Brendan Fraser, Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage.
Paige won Best Female Lead for Zola this year at the Independent Spirit Awards. She is repped by CAA, Management 360 and Granderson Des Rochers.
Bennett won Best Actress at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival for Swallow, which she also executive produced. She is starring in the upcoming UAR title Till from Chinonye Chukwu, Jamie Adams’ She Is Love and the Lionsgate Eli Roth feature adaptation of videogame, Borderlands. Other feature credits include Hillbilly Elegy, The Girl on the Train, Rules Don’t Apply, The Magnificent Seven and The Equalizer. Bennett is also set to star in the feature take of Jackie Polzin’s novel Brood which she’ll also produce alongside Topic Studios, Joe Wright and Swallow producer Mollye Asher. She is repped by WME, Tavistock Wood Management and Brecheen Feldman Breimer.