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With shooting now underway in the south of France on dark comedy “The Worst,” the production has added a major cohort of names to its already buzzy cast.
Sam Claflin (“F.A.S.T.,” “Daisy Jones and the Six”), Tom Hollander
(“Gosford Park,” “The Night Manager”), Anthony Boyle (“I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning,” “The Altruists”), Josh Finan (“Say Nothing,” “Waiting for the Out”), Anna Maxwell Martin (“Star City,” “Until I Kill You”), Dustin Demri-Burns (“The Magic Faraway Tree,” “Slow Horses”) and Sian Clifford (“Fleabag,” “The Ballad of Wallis Island”) have joined the film, which was first announced by Variety earlier this year.
Zackary Momoh (“Doctor Sleep,” “Parish”) and Eka Chavleishvili (“Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry”) round out the ensemble.
The new additions join the previously announced Keira Knightley (“The Imitation Game, Pride & Prejudice”), Alicia Vikander (“Firebrand,” “The Danish Girl”) and Erin Kellyman (“Eleanor the Great,” “28 Years Later”). Meanwhile, Boyle replaces fellow Belfast-born actor Jamie Dornan, who was originally cast.
Marking the feature directorial debut of Simon Woods, “The Worst” — which was launched at the European Film Market by Protagonist Pictures, Logical Pictures Group and UTA Independent Film Group — is described as a “wickedly entertaining class satire” that “skewers privilege, power and performative morality, turning an elegant couples’ getaway into a hilariously disastrous night to remember.”
The film centers on socialite Emily Fisher (Vikander) and her husband Max (Hollander) as they invite their equally wealthy friends to their new chateau in France for the night. Among the guests are a group of people who really can’t stand each other: Jim (Clafin) and his Holly (Knightley), a struggling diversity consultant who continuously clashes with everyone until she gets a migraine, and Danny (Boyle) a quick-witted talent agent that name-drops his client list every chance he gets. As the evening begins to unravel and dark secrets are revealed, waitress Niamh (Kellyman) finds herself right in the middle of their chaos.
Written and helmed by actor-turned-playwright-turned-director Woods (National Theatre’s “Hansard,” “Such a Lovely Day”), “The Worst” is being produced by Andy Berg and John Sachs of Eclipse Films, alongside BAFTA winner Josh Hyams of Promise Pictures. Frédéric Fiore, Ryan Wickers and Andrei Kamarowsky serve as executive producers for Logical Pictures Group, alongside Dave Bishop, James Pugh and George Hamilton for Protagonist Pictures and Charles Low for Eclipse.
Logical Pictures Group are financing the film, and co-rep international sales alongside Protagonist Pictures. UTA Independent Film Group co-represent domestic rights.
Knightley is repped by United Agents, Range Media Partners, Narrative and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.; Vikander is repped by UTA, Tapestry London, Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Kellyman is repped by Curtis Brown Group, CAA and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher; Claflin is repped by Independent Talent Group, UTA and Glaser Weil; Hollander is repped by United Agents in the U.K. and Anonymous Content and WME in the U.S.; Boyle is repped by B-Side, WME, Tapestry London and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; Finan is repped by Insight Management & Production, Range Media Partners and Public Eye Communications; Maxwell Martin is repped by United Agents; Demri-Burns is repped by United Agents and Linden Entertainment; Clifford is repped by United Agents, UTA and Anonymous Content; Momoh is repped by The Artists Partnership, Entertainment 360 and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox.
