Maria Bello is having a busy week, as at the weekend it was revealed she’d joined the cast of Prisoners, opposite Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, and now she’s taking the lead in a supernatural thriller from producer James Wan (Saw, Insidious). Will Canon (Brotherhood) is set to direct the movie, based on Max La Bella script, who was working from an original idea of Wan’s.
The film is set during the aftermath of a horrific massacre: five college students, brutally murdered inside a decrepit, abandoned home. Fresh on the scene, detective Mark Lewis and the police department’s psychologist, Dr. Elizabeth Klein (Bello), question one of the few survivors who explains they were amateur ghost-hunters, seeking out paranormal phenomenon at the abandoned house, believed to be haunted. But what started out as a harmless activity turned into something truly terrifying, and the suspect claims the responsibility doesn’t lie with any of the inhabitants, but with the house itself.
Here’s what James Wan added about his new cast member, “I’m so thrilled to be shepherding this project. The talent is really incredible, and in particular, Maria Bello was on the top of our list so we’re excited to have her.”
Shooting begins January 2013 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Source: THR)