EXCLUSIVE: Filming is underway in Australia on Saccharine, with Grey’s Anatomy and The Sex Lives of College Girls star Midori Francis within the lead position.
The under-the-radar mission marks the third movie from writer-director Natalie Erika James, following Julia Garner horror Apartment 7A and breakout horror hit Relic with Emily Mortimer.
James once more companions with producers Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw of Carver Films, whose credit embrace Relic, Run Rabbit Run and Snowtown.
The film follows Hana (Francis), a lovelorn medical scholar who turns into terrorised by a hungry ghost after collaborating in an obscure weight-loss craze: consuming human ashes.
Starring alongside Francis are Danielle Macdonald (Patti Cake$) enjoying Josie, Hana’s finest good friend, and Madeleine Madden (The Wheel of Time) as Alanya, a private coach and health influencer.
The mission is a Carver Films and Thrum Films manufacturing. Production funding comes from Screen Australia, XYZ along side IPR.VC, and Stan, in affiliation with VicScreen. Co-producer is Ben Morgan.
Pic can be distributed theatrically in Australia and New Zealand by Maslow Entertainment and can launch as a Stan Original Film on Stan. XYZ Films is dealing with world gross sales.
Saccharine is at the moment filming at Docklands Studios Melbourne and varied places round Melbourne.
Natalie Erika James mentioned of the mission: “There is so much toxic messaging around weight and appearance that permeates every corner of our culture. Saccharine is an intimate look into one woman’s struggle with body image, self-worth, and shame-driven compulsion, told through a supernatural body-horror with a queer lens and an edge of the absurd.”
Producers Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw of Carver Films added: “Saccharine explodes off the page with Natalie’s bold vision. To team with her again is such a sweet pleasure for us. We can’t wait to see Midori, Danielle and Madeleine bring these incredible women to life.”
Midori Francis is represented by William Morris Endeavor, Circle Management + Production, and Johnson Shapiro; Danielle Macdonald is represented by CAA and Justice & Ponder; and Madeleine Madden is represented by Sue Barnett & Associates Australia.