Epic Pictures Reunites With ‘The Lodgers’ Team For ‘The Winter Lake’, Sets Cast – EFM

DEADLINE – EXCLUSIVE: Blackbird‘s Anson Boon, Peaky Blinders‘ Charlie Murphy, Game of Thrones‘ Michael McElhatton and Sex Education‘s Emma Mackey and Mark McKenna have been cast in The Winter Lake, a new horror thriller from Epic Pictures and Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde’s Tailored Films, which previously teamed on the 2017 horror drama The Lodgers. Lodgers scribe David Turpin penned the script and Phil Sheerin (North) is directing.

The pic will shoot in the west of Ireland beginning February 18, and Epic is selling the film at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin.

The plot revolves around a withdrawn teenager named Tom (Boon) and his troubled mother (Murphy) who find themselves on a desolate farm in Ireland. There, as the water lowers on a nearby seasonal lake, Tom makes a terrifying discovery that draws him and his mother into an uneasy alliance with the mysterious neighbor girl (Mackey) and her protective father (McElhatton). As dark secrets rise to the light, all four will be changed forever — and Tom will emerge into the harsh realities of adulthood.

Epic will executive produce alongside Title Media and producers Treacy and Forde. Co-producer is Anne-Marie Gelinas of EMAfilms, which previously partnered with Epic on Turbo Kid and Radius. The Winter Lake is co-financed by Screen Ireland, Epic, Telefilm, Wrap Fund and Creative Europe.

Filmoption already has Canadian rights.

EFM kicks off Thursday on the sidelines of the Berlin Film Festival and runs through February 15.

‘Sex Education’ breakout Emma Mackey to star in survival thriller ‘Summit Fever’ (exclusive)

SCREEN – Emma Mackey, the breakout star of popular Netflix series Sex Education, has officially boarded the cast of UK-France survival thriller Summit Fever.

The actress joins Freddie Thorp (Overdrive) in the film, which is from A Lonely Place To Die director Julian Gilbey.

Set in the French Alps, Summit Fever is the story of a young English mountaineer who is lured to the Alps by his friend to help him conquer the ‘Big Three’ – the Matterhorn, the Eiger, and Mont Blanc, all over one summer.

The film is a UK-French co-production between Haymarket Films and Joyce Pierpoline’s Pierpoline Films.

Further casting is now underway and the film will shoot this June.

Carnaby International is handling worldwide sales. Distribution rights for Germany, Austria and Switzerland were taken last year by Koch Media.

In Sex Education, Mackey stars alongside Gillian Anderson and Asa Butterfield in the story of a group of friends who set up an underground sex therapy clinic at their school.

Mackey is represented by Curtis Brown Group in the UK.