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Cruel Intentions: Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy & Anton Yelchin Buck Towards “Thoroughbred”

Just last week, The Tracking Board broke the news that scribes Nat Faxon and Jim Rash were getting into the producing game essentially aiding playwright-screenwriter Cory Finley with his directorial debut, now Deadline reports that an striking trio of thesps have come onboard Thoroughbred. With a shoot set for next month on the East Coast, breakout Sundance starlets Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy will be joined by veteran indie actor Anton Yelchin in this elitist dark comedy. June Pictures’ Alex Saks and Andrew Duncan (they’re backing Sean Baker’s next, The Florida Project) and B Story’s Kevin J. Walsh, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash will produce. B Story’s Ryan Stowell will executive produce.

Gist: Based on a stage play, this follows Christine Wyckland, a guidance counselor at a top-tier prep school who has decided to spend some time at home in order to recover from a panic attack. Her daughter is an amateur equestrian that has become jaded to the sport and has been blacklisted from her peers after injuring her horse. One of Christine’s students starts showing up to school with strange marks on his skin and in the woods around their house it seems as though menacing eyes are watching their suburban haven.

Worth Noting: Last year, Finley had the Off Off Broadway The Feast. Here is the NYTimes review.

Do We Care?: Major pieces of the puzzle in the producing team certainly bodes well for a project that so far has a solid young casting. It might prove fruitful for this first-time helmer playwright.

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).

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