Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow are set to star in James Ashcroft’s thriller The Rule Of Jenny Pen, based on the short story by New Zealand author Owen Marshall, that will shoot later this year. Charades is handling international sales and CAA Media Finance domestic rights.
Set within the confines of a aged care facility, Rush stars as a conceited judge who suffers a near fatal stroke that sees him placed in convalescence where he refuses to cooperate with the facility’s staff or communicate with his roommate. Lithgow plays an aging psychopath who indulges in a sadistic game known as “The Rule of Jenny Pen.”
It is New Zealand-based Māori filmmaker Ashcroft’s second feature following his debut Coming Home In The Dark that premiered in Sundance in 2021 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Netflix.
Ashcroft reunites with producer Catherine Fitzgerald and writer Eli Kent. The script was developed with assistance from the New Zealand Film Commission. Rialto Distribution and Vertigo Releasing are releasing in Australia and New Zealand.
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