“Tracking Shot” is a top of month featurette here at IONCINEMA.com that looks at the projects that are moments away from lensing. This April we’ve got some highly anticipated film items that will likely populate the 2020 year in cinema with sophomore efforts by Alice Wu, Jon Stewart and Brandon Cronenberg. Here are the top indie and foreign film production items we believe to be filming this April.
TOP THREE
Ana Lily Amirpour landed a curious triplet in Kate Hudson, Craig Robinson and Zac Efron for her third feature film Blood Moon. After 2014’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (review) and The Bad Batch (2016), the filmmaker worked in television before settling into what will be set in hedonistic streets of New Orleans and is inspired by fantasy-adventure movies of the ’80s and ’90s.
After being solicited for a couple of projects after seeing his Morris from America play especially well at Sundance, Chad Hartigan is now working on his five feature (fourth fiction). He landed a Blacklist screenplay in Little Fish and set up shop in Vancouver with a twosome of Olivia Cooke and Jack O’Connell.
Sara Colangelo saw her career take a positive upswing with her sophomore film, The Kindergarten Teacher (we were at the world premiere screening at Sundance). She now climbs onto a Blacklist screenplay and her third feature film with the likes of Michael Keaton and Stanley Tucci. What Is Life tells the story of a powerful DC insider lawyer put in charge of the 9/11 Fund. In almost three years of pro bono work on the case, Feinberg fought off the cynicism, bureaucracy and politics associated with administering government funds to victim’s families — and in doing so, discovered what life is worth. Filming takes place in Atlanta and Toronto – seconding as a NYC backdrop.
Blood Moon
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Writer: Ana Lily Amirpour
Cast: Kate Hudson – Craig Robinson – Zac Efron
Producer: John Lesher
Filming in New Orleans.
The Chain
Director: Tim Sutton
Writer: Tim Sutton
Cast: Margaret Qualley, Sebastian Stan, Jamie Bell
Producers: David Lancaster, Stephanie Wilcox
Charlatan
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Writer: Marek Epstein
Cast: Ivan Trojan, Jaroslava Pokorná, Juraj Loj
Producers: Sarka Cimbalova, Kevan Van Thompson
Filming in Czech Republic, Ireland, Slovakia.
Coffee & Kareen
Director: Michael Dowse
Writer: Shane McCarthy
Cast: Ed Helms, Tiffany Haddish
Producers: Ed Helms, Mike Falbo.
Filming in Vancouver, B.C
Des hommes
Director: Lucas Belvaux
Writer: Lucas Belvaux
Cast: Gérard Depardieu, Catherine Frot, Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Producers: David Frenkel, Patrick Quinet
Filming in Morocco.
The Half of It
Director: Alice Wu
Writer: Alice Wu
Cast: TBA.
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Mary Jane Skalski
Filming in NYC.
Herself
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Writer: Phyllida Lloyd, Malcolm Campbell
Cast: Clare Dunne
Producers: Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Sharon Horgan
Filming in Dublin.
Irresistible
Director: Jon Stewart
Writer: Jon Stewart
Cast: Chris Cooper, Steve Carell, Rose Byrne
Producers: Brad Pitt, Jon Stewart
Filming in Atlanta, Georgia.
Little Fish
Director: Chad Hartigan
Writer: Mattson Tomlin
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Jack O’Connell, Raúl Castillo
Producers: Lia Buman, Rian Cahill, Chris Ferguson, Tim Headington, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Mattson Tomlin
Filming in Vancouver.
Made In Italy
Director: James D’Arcy
Writer: James D’Arcy
Cast: Liam Neeson, Micheál Richardson
Producers: Pippa Cross, Nicola Serra, Sam Tipper-Hale
Filming in London, Italy.
Possessor
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Writer: Brandon Cronenberg
Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Jason Leigh Jennifer, Sean Bean, Christopher Abbott, Stacy Martin, Rossif Sutherland
Producers: Fraser Ash, Niv Fichman, Kevin Krikst, Andrew Starke
Filming in Toronto.
The Rental
Director: Dave Franco
Writer: Dave Franco, Joe Swanberg
Cast: Alison Brie, Dan Stevens, Sheila Vand, Jeremy Allen White
Producers: Dave Franco, Elizabeth Haggard, Vince Jolivette, Teddy Schwarzman, Ben Stillman, Christopher Storer, Joe Swanberg
Filming in Oregon.
What Is Life Worth
Director: Sara Colangelo
Writer: Max Borenstein
Cast: Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci
Producers: Max Borenstein, Marc Butan, Sean Sorensen, Michael Sugar
Filming in Atlanta and Toronto.
Work It
Director: Laura Terruso
Writer: Alison Peck
Cast: TBA.
Producer: Alicia Keys
