EXCLUSIVE: Writer-director Sean McEwen has wrapped production on Turnbuckle, an indie dramedy with action elements starring Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild), Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow), Evan Ross (The Hunger Games), Cara Delevingne (Suicide Squad), and more.
Shot in Arkansas, the film’s logline is being kept under wraps. It’s billed as a darkly comic Southern story about redemption, survival, and small-town chaos.
Ross (The Hunger Games) and Greg Carney (Material Girls) led the producing team under their newly formed banner, Film Mafia Entertainment, joined by Daemon Hillin (Into the Deep) Hillin Entertainment, Ryan R. Johnson (12 Mighty Orphans), Sprockefellar Pictures, and Mia Chang (Ick) Tunnel Post. Mira Pak Howard (Showdown at the Grand), Terrence Howard (Pride), and Alexander Foard (Same Kind of Different as Me) served as exec producers, with Freedom United taking point on casting.
Others in the cast include Macy Gray (Training Day), Sam Strike (Nightflyers), Lily Mo Sheen (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent), Randall J. Bacon (Hunting Season), and Tammin Sursok (Pretty Little Liars).
“This is one of those rare films that feels both dangerous and elevated. The cast is electric, the tone is fresh, and we believe Turnbuckle will stand out as a prestige film with real cultural impact,” producer-star Ross told Deadline. “None of this would have been possible without Christopher Crane and the Arkansas Film Commission. Arkansas, especially Hot Springs National Park, is a little paradise with its lakes, spas, restaurants, casino, and the perfect vibe for making a movie.”
A writer-director whose credits include American Otlaws, starring India Eisley, Emory Cohen and Strike, and the dramedy Braking for Whales with Tom Felton, McEwen is repped by Bellevue Productions and Miloknay Weiner.
Hirsch is repped by UTA and Stride Management; Beckinsale by Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo; Howard by Independent Artist Group and Universal Bridges; Ross by Vault Entertainment and Myman Greenspan Fox; and Delevingne by UTA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings