Darren Lynn Bousman to Direct 'Serpentine' Thriller — SkimNews
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- Darren Lynn Bousman has come aboard to direct Serpentine, a new psychological thriller from Dream State Studios and partner Brand in Entertainment.
- Serpentine is set in a seemingly quiet New England town where organized crime, crooked cops, buried secrets and the intensely competitive world of figure skating collide, following a woman whose attempt to disappear pulls her into a web of criminals and local power players.
- Bousman told Deadline he wanted to "flex some different muscles outside of the horror genre," keeping dread, fear and intensity in what he calls a "strange, darkly funny, FARGO-esque world."
- Valerie Palencar, president of Dream State Studios, said Bousman "immediately understood what makes Serpentine unusual," describing a story driven by complex characters whose ambition and loyalty are constantly tested.
- Rolfe J. Auerbach, CEO of Brand in Entertainment, is executive producing the film, which will be funded partly by brands whose products have been integrated into the story from the earliest stages.
- Saw II was Bousman's feature directing debut in 2005, which he co-wrote with Leigh Whannell; he followed it with Saw III, Saw IV and Spiral: From the Book of Saw, four Saw films in all.
- Repo! The Genetic Opera heads Bousman's other credits alongside The Devil's Carnival, Abattoir and Death of Me, with the filmmaker represented by Verve, Wonder Street, and Skrzyniarz and Mallean.
Why it matters: Consumer brands are funding part of Serpentine's budget and their products sit inside the story from the earliest stages; Auerbach says it is "a commercially ambitious motion picture" that "was never intended to be a conventional independent film." Bousman, who directed four Saw films, says he chose it to keep dread and tension while working outside horror.
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