Academy Award® winner Lupita Nyong’o and Beauty and the Beast star Josh Gad will film in Sydney alongside Australian actor Alexander England in the zombie comedy Little Monsters, from Australian writer/director Abe Forsythe.
The film follows Dave (England), a washed-up musician who volunteers to chaperone his nephew’s kindergarten class field trip after taking a shine to the plucky schoolteacher, Miss Caroline (Nyong’o). Dave’s intentions are complicated by the presence of the world’s most famous kids show personality, and competition for Miss Caroline’s affections, Teddy McGiggle (Gad). One thing none of them bargained for however, is a sudden zombie outbreak, from which Dave and Miss Caroline must protect the children.
Snoot’s Keith & Jess Calder are producing alongside Made Up Stories’ Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky, with Jeanne Snow executive producing.
“Jess and I are delighted to be working with Abe Forsythe and the whole team in Australia, as we’re huge fans of his first film Down Under.” said Keith Calder. “That we also get to work with Lupita Nyong’o and Josh Gad has turned a great experience into a total dream.”
Snoot Entertainment recently premiered Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken at the Toronto International Film Festival, and has also recently finished production onBlindspotting starring Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal. Other Snoot films include Adam Wingard’s You’re Next, The Guest, and Blair Witch and Charlie Kaufman’s Academy Award® nominated Anomalisa.
“Abe is a brilliant filmmaker and I can’t wait for audiences to fall in love with this original film that is equal parts hilarious, heartwarming and terrifying,” said Papandrea. “We at Made Up Stories have been longtime fans of Lupita’s and Josh’s extraordinary work and we are thrilled that they have come on board alongside Alex.”
Made Up Stories recently acquired Tina Brown’s upcoming book ‘The Vanity Fair Diaries’ for development as a limited series, and just wrapped production on Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale as well as the TNT pilot Deadlier Than The Male written by Harriet Warner and starring Amy Brenneman. Papandrea’s producing credits include Wild, Warm Bodies, Gone Girl, Milk, and HBO’s Big Little Lies, for which Papandrea won the Emmy Award® for Best Limited Series.
Create NSW CEO Michael Brealey commented, “Academy Award® winner Lupita Nyong’o and the multi-talented Josh Gad are incredible choices for Little Monsters and we are delighted to welcome them and the rest of the impressive cast and crew to NSW. This is a major win for the state and we are especially excited that such an esteemed producing team, including Emmy Award® winner Bruna Papandrea, is onboard for the shoot in and around Sydney.”
The film has received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Create NSW. Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales.