Third Responder: Katherine Waterston Added to Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s “Black Flies”

Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire‘s Black Flies (a project that has been kicking around for a while now) has officially went into production this week in NYC – and we’re learning that Katherine Waterston was added to complete a trio of topliners Tye Sheridan and Sean Penn — who replaced the previously attached Mel Gibson. The Black List project book to film project based on the novel by Shannon Burke was most recently adapted by Ryan King and Ben Mack Brown. Sauvaire’s earlier work falls in the docu sphere and he moved to features with Cannes Film Festival selected Johnny Mad Dog (2008) and, A Prayer Before Dawn (2017).

This follows the paramedics who save our lives—and the toll it inflicts on theirs. It is an immersive view of life on the streets and one medic’s struggle to maintain his desire to help despite his growing fear that nothing he can do will make a difference. It is the story of lives that hang in the balance and the choices of two men caught in the middle. Ollie Cross (Sheridan) is ready to do good. In preparation for his dream of medical school, he hits the streets driving an ambulance alongside Rutkovsky (Penn), a grizzled veteran and one of New York’s best medics.