Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring franchise) is set to star in and executive produce INFERNO, written and to be directed by Bryan Hill (HBO Max’s “Titans”), with Ara Keshishian (Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Kidnap) and Petr Jákl’s (Land of Bad) ZQ Entertainment (upcoming Feed with Rosamund Pike, and Armando Ianucci’s newly announced untitled feature), alongside Adrian Askarieh’s Prime Universe Films (Hitman franchise) all producing. Manifest Pictures are handling international sales and will introduce the film to buyers at the upcoming American Film Market. CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group will co-rep domestic rights.
Based on the long-rumored special division of Britain’s Scotland Yard that investigates the occult, Farmiga will portray a former detective whose pursuit of a killer forces her back into the “Black Branch” and on the trail of the paranormal terror she thought she’d escaped.
INFERNO marks Farmiga’s return to the supernatural horror genre since leading The Conjuring: Last Rites, which grossed half a billion dollars worldwide.
With her iconic portrayal of paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring franchise, alongside leading roles in Orphan, Joshua and Bates Motel, Farmiga has established herself as one of horror’s most bankable stars, with her genre filmography generating more than $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office. Her acclaimed credits also include Martin Scorsese’s The Departed and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
The film is scheduled to begin production in late spring.
“Great horror films challenge what we believe about the world. With INFERNO, I want to create a terrifying mystery that stays with audiences long after the credits roll. Vera Farmiga is an extraordinary actor whose intelligence, emotional depth, and commanding presence make her the perfect person to lead us into and through that darkness,” said director Bryan Hill.
“INFERNO is a sophisticated supernatural thriller that marries the investigative propulsion of a serial-killer procedural with the visceral terror of possession horror,” said Yvette Zhuang, co-CEO of Manifest Pictures. “We were immediately sucked into Hill’s script, which has unnerving procedural tension of Manhunter and the emotional, performance-driven horror of The Exorcist or Longlegs,” added Zach Glueck, co-CEO of Manifest Pictures. “Hill’s work collaborating with incredible directors from Ryan Coogler to Sam Raimi, and his experience on shows like HBO’s Titans, has prepared him for his role as a multi-hyphenate creator.”
Hill’s first feature, Archangel, is currently in post-production, with Image Nation (Dune, Late Night with the Devil), Roy Lee (Resident Evil, It, Weapons) and Steven Schneider’s Spooky Pictures, and Hill’s Kevlar Creative all producing. His work spans film, television, graphic novels and games. His screenwriting credits include Bitter Root for Proximity and Legendary, The Purgatory Game for Lyrical Media, and Universal’s upcoming Prince biopic, to be produced by Ryan Coogler. His acclaimed comics work includes American Carnage, Chariot, Blade: Evil Against Evil, and Batman and the Outsiders.
Farmiga is repped by CAA, Authentic Talent and Literary Management and Peikoff Mahan Law Office; Hill is repped by UTA, Heroes and Villains Entertainment and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein.
