EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) has been set to star in horror-thriller Monster, which will be directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw franchise).
From a screenplay by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer (Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane), pic was developed and is being produced by Lee Nelson and David Tish of Envision Media Arts (The Ice Road) alongside Saw franchise producer Mark Burg.
Monster follows two millennials who make quick money by leasing incredible New York City apartments they don’t own to people who don’t know they are being scammed. The con works brilliantly until they run into an apartment owner with a dark secret who flips the game on them.
Principal photography is due to start in Danbury, Connecticut, in November.
Hounsou, coming off Paramount’s A Quiet Place: Day One, is currently at work on director Vadim Perelman’s thriller The Zealot, starring opposite Kodi Smit-McPhee, and earlier this summer wrapped on Sony Pictures’ shark pic Beneath The Storm alongside Phoebe Dynevor and Whitney Peak.
Lynn Bousman has directed four movies in the Saw franchise while producer Burg has been aboard for every instalment.
“Darren sent me a script with incredible twists and turns and the opportunity to work with him and the brilliant Djimon Hounsou,” said Burg. “This movie will be amazing and scare the hell out of audiences worldwide.”
Tish and Nelson added: “We love finding new ways into horror and when we read The Monster we knew it was special. With Djimon and the minds behind one of horror’s biggest franchises, genre fans are in for something fresh and scary.”
Hounsou is represented by Buchwald, Range Media Partners and Nelson Davis.
