Pitch Perfect star Anna Kendrick is behind the camera, making her directorial debut thriller in real life The Dating Game.
This movie is from Ian MacDonald’s Blacklist screenplay, described as stranger than fiction Cheryl Bradshaw’s Story, she’s a single candidate in the hit TV matchmaking show Dating Game, she chooses the funny and handsome bachelor number one Name, Rodney Alcala. But Bradshaw’s fairytale date takes a horrific turn, as The Bachelor drops his glamorous exterior to reveal the truth: Alcala is actually a psychopathic serial killer.
Kendrick will also star as Bradshaw and produce The Dating Game through her Let’s Go Again tile.
Along with Kendrick, JD Lifshitz and Raphael Margules will produce via BoulderLight Pictures and Roy Lee and Miri Yoon via Vertigo Entertainment. Writer MacDonald will also executive produce,
The film is currently in pre-production, with main shooting scheduled for late October. Additional casting is in progress.
Stuart Ford’s AGC studio is fully financing and co-producing the dating game and selling the project worldwide through its AGC International Sales Department. AGC launched the pre-sale of the project in Cannes, with UTA/CAA jointly representing domestic copyright. Kendrick and Ford will be presenting to international buyers with Ford at the Toronto Film Festival .
“From the moment I read this script, I fell in love with it. While I’m obviously excited to play Shirley, I feel like I’m connected to the story , the tone, and the themes around gender and intimacy are so connected that when I had the opportunity to direct the film, I embraced it,” says Kendrick, “that’s how it feels.”
Kendrick is represented by CAA, Range Media Partners and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich & Gellman. AGC’s senior vice president of legal and commercial affairs, Anant Tamirisa, negotiated the transaction on behalf of AGC, and CAA and Range Media Partners negotiated on behalf of Kendrick.
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