EXCLUSIVE: Ginny & Georgia breakout Felix Mallard is attached to star in home invasion thriller Nest, about a young family terrorised by a new species of deadly arachnid.
Mallard is attached to star as Remy, a new father daunted by the prospect of parenthood and outfitting the family’s new home. With his high-flying wife Grace often away from the house, Remy must care for baby Zoe, while juggling his own career aspirations and the job of turning their new house into a home. But this house is already occupied…
The film’s antagonist, and matriarch of the ‘nest’, is a giant female spider which, with a mixture of puppetry enhanced by VFX, will be brought to life by effects artist Russell Sharp (Late Night with the Devil) and his team at Sharp FX, together with creature visual effects house Alt.FX (The Pope’s Exorcist).
Architect has launched worldwide sales on the project for this week’s American Film Market in Las Vegas and the plan is to shoot in Q2 in Australia.
Writer-director is Guy Edmonds, who previously co-created and directed on both Australian series Spooky Files and ABC’s Hardball. He was inspired to write the film when facing up to the daunting task of becoming a parent and the project marks his feature directorial debut.
Pic is executive-produced by Joe Weatherstone (Killing Ground), and produced by Melissa Kelly (Hounds of Love) and by Bethany Jones for Mushroom Studios (Chopper), who also developed the script with Edmonds alongside script consultant Daina Reid (The Handmaid’s Tale). Marianne Jade of Maura Fay Casting is handling casting. Pic has been developed with the support of Screen Australia.
Mallard stars as the male lead in Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia, with the third season set for release in 2025 and a fourth season already greenlit. He recently appeared in the Max film Turtles All the Way Down opposite Isabella Merced. Previous television work includes roles in Locke & Key on Netflix and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist on NBC. He also starred in the Netflix film All the Bright Places.
Filmmaker Edmonds said: “Nest is every parent’s worst nightmare. It’s a home invasion film from within, which becomes a fight to defend their child as the house is infested by another family: of spiders!”
Producer Bethany Jones added: “Guy has written a skin-crawling creature feature with a beating heart – focused on a couple you’ll fall in love with and want to see thrive as they’re threatened by a nightmarish intruder.”
