Familiar to fans of The Office and Silicon Valley, actor Zach Woods will be moving behind the camera for his directorial debut – a new American indie offering in The Accompanist. Deadline reports that Susan Sarandon, Everly Carganilla and Aubrey Plaza are the leading trio. The magical realist narrative is produced by Michael Sagol, Allison Hironaka, Carlos Zozaya, Zach Woods, Evil Hag Productions’ Aubrey Plaza and Lauren Bratman. Worth noting, Woods’ debut short was an actual 2020 Cannes Film Festival invite – it starred Will Ferrell. Here is the synopsis:
Co-written by Woods and Brandon Gardner, When 9-year-old Emily (Everly Carganilla) accidentally tells her school nurse that her dementia-stricken grandpa almost got them killed, a rookie child-welfare agent Sarah (Aubrey Plaza) is sent to their house to investigate. A botched extraction ensues and Emily is taken and placed with Sylvia, a new foster parent. Sylvia (Susan Sarandon) is mysterious, witchy, funny, and unpredictable. Her natural warmth and playfulness are complicated by the fact that she is haunted by visitations from her past. As Emily and Sylvia grow closer, their worlds, dreams, and visions begin to overlap. As their friendship deepens, they must decide how much they are willing to risk— whether their burgeoning love is worth the ghosts that it seems to summon.
