"Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile"

METALLICA LEAD SINGER JAMES HETFIELD JOINS CAST OF NEW VOLTAGE PRODUCTION

Metallica front man James Hetfield tops off the coveted ensemble cast of the upcoming thriller EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL, AND VILE. The film follows the relationship between notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, played by Zac Efron, and his longtime girlfriend, played by Lily Collins, who at the time, had no knowledge of the crimes.

 

The Grammy and multi-Platinum and Gold Award winning artist will be playing Officer Bob Hayward, a no-nonsense Utah highway patrol veteran who was the first law enforcement officer to arrest Bundy in 1975 after pulling the killer over and discovering burglary tools in his car but wisely suspecting much worse.  While Hetfield has played himself in other films and television productions, this will be his first dramatic role taking on a different character.

 

Academy-award nominee Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost) will direct. Hetfield and Berlinger have crossed paths before when the latter directed and produced the seminal rock-doc Metallica: Some Kind of Monster along with the late Bruce Sinofsky.  Berlinger also penned a book about his experiences with the band, Metallica:  This Monster Lives .

 

"Having spent hundreds of hours behind the scenes with James and the rest of Metallica, I have experienced his charisma and powerful presence close up," says director Joe Berlinger.  "It seemed only natural that he would bring that same power and magnetism to a dramatic role, so when he agreed to my pitch that he be in the movie, I was thrilled."

 

The original screenplay, written by Michael Werwie, won the Nicholl Fellowship first prize and was featured on the Black List.  

 

Golden Globe and multiple Emmy Award winner Jim Parsons and Academy Award nominees Haley Joel Osment and John Malkovich have also recently joined the cast along with Kaya Scodelario, Angela Sarafyan, Jeffrey Donovan Terry Kinney, and Dylan Baker.  

 

Efron most recently appeared in James Franco's critically acclaimed comedy The Disaster Artist as well as The Greatest Showman, Baywatch, Neighbors, and Neighbors 2.

 

Collins recently starred in the critically acclaimed dramas To the Bone and Okja, the latter of which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.  Collins was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress (Comedy) for her starring role in Rules Don't Apply.  She is set to appear in the upcoming mini-series Les Miserables.

 

Ara Keshishian and Nicolas Chartier are producing for Voltage Pictures. Michael Costigan is producing for COTA Entertainment. Michael Simkin is producing for Efron's Ninjas Runnin Wild Productions. Voltage is fully financing with Jonathan Deckter and Ninjas Runnin Wild's Jason Barrett as executive producers.  

 

The project was announced by Voltage Pictures at Cannes 2017. Production is already underway.

 

ABOUT VOLTAGE PICTURES

Voltage Pictures, established in 2005, is a privately held, film and television production, financing and sales entity.  Voltage has won six Academy Awards including Best Picture for "The Hurt Locker"; and three Academy Awards for "Dallas Buyers Club." The company is currently in production on "I Feel Pretty" starring Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams and  Emily Ratajkowski which is set to release wide via STX on June 29, 2018. Voltage just completed production on Departures

starring Maisie Williams, Asa Butterfield, Nina Dobrev, and Ken Jeong as well as Welcome Home starring Aaron Paul and Emily Ratajkowski.  Voltage's recent releases include "Colossal," starring Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis and Dan Stevens; "All Eyez on Me," one of the highest grossing independent films of the year via Lionsgate / Summit Releasing ; and Taylor Sheridan's critically acclaimed "Wind River."

 

ABOUT COTA ENTERTAINMENT

MICHAEL COSTIGAN is a film and television producer based in Los Angeles.  Costigan began his career at Sony Pictures in 1993, as Executive Vice President of Production, he oversaw the acquisition, development and production of films including Milos Forman's Academy Award-nominated THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT; James Mangold's GIRL, INTERRUPTED; McG's CHARLIE'S ANGELS; Guy Ritchie's SNATCH; Gus Van Sant's acclaimed TO DIE FOR; Andrew Niccol's debut film GATTACA; and Wes Anderson's debut feature BOTTLE ROCKET.

 

He made the transition to producing movies with BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN in 2004. Directed by Ang Lee and adapted from the Annie Proulx short story by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, the film was nominated for 'Best Picture,' and won Academy Awards for 'Best Director' and 'Best Screenplay.'   

 

Costigan then joined Scott Free, Ridley and Tony Scott's production company as President and during his seven-year tenure, Costigan oversaw, produced and executive produced 15 films including AMERICAN GANGSTER, THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3, BODY OF LIES, ROBIN HOOD, CYRUS, STOKER, Park Chan Wook's (OLDBOY) acclaimed English-language debut starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode, and OUT OF THE FURNACE, starring Christian Bale and Casey Affleck, and directed by Scott Cooper.  He also executive produced Ridley Scott's PROMETHEUS, starring Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron and THE COUNSELOR, an original screenplay by Cormac McCarthy and starring Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz.

 

Under his Los Angeles-based production company COTA ENTERTAINMENT, Costigan has produced: GHOST IN THE SHELL, directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) and starring Scarlett Johansson for Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks, and A BIGGER SPLASH, directed by Luca Guadagnino (I am Love) and starring Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenarts, and Dakota Johnson for Studio Canal and Fox Searchlight.  It appeared on the New York Times and numerous best films of 2017 lists. WOODSHOCK, the debut film of Laura and Kate Mulleavy and starring Kirsten Dunst, was released in the US by A24 (Moonlight) in September 2017. Costigan recently wrapped production on DUMPLIN', directed by Anne Fletcher (The Proposal, Step Up), and starring Danielle Macdonald and Jennifer Aniston. Currently in production is LYING & STEALING, directed by Matt Aselton and starring Theo James and Emily Ratajkowski.

 

ABOUT JOE BERLINGER

Academy Award and seven-time Emmy nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger's films include BROTHER'S KEEPER, the PARADISE LOST Trilogy, METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER, CRUDE and UNDER AFRICAN SKIES. Berlinger's most recent film, INTENT TO DESTROY pulls back the curtain on mass murder censorship in Hollywood due to U.S. government pressure to appease a strategic ally by embedding with a historic feature film production as a springboard to explore the violent history of the Armenian Genocide and legacy of Turkish suppression and denial over the past century. Last summer Netflix released Berlinger's TONY ROBBINS: I AM NOT YOUR GURU, a vérité film that goes behind the scenes of the mega once-a-year seminar "Date With Destiny". Earlier this year, Berlinger's four-part docu-series KILLING RICHARD GLOSSIP, which tells the haunting story of a former motel manager sentenced to die for orchestrating a murder that he swears he had nothing to do with,  generated one of Investigation Discovery's highest ratings ever,.  This summer saw the premiere of Berlinger's latest eight-part docuseries for Spike TV, "Gone: The Forgotten Women of Ohio," about the deaths and disappearances of six young women in southern Ohio - a tragic saga shrouded in a mystery that includes a dark underbelly of a struggling Midwest region plagued by drug and sex trafficking, and a system that seems to have failed to protect these women Also premiering on Sundance TV later in 2017 is Berlinger's four-part true crime documentary series COLD BLOODED: THE CLUTTER FAMILY MURDERS, a reexamination of the crime chronicled in Truman Capote's landmark book and Oscar-nominated film, In Cold Blood.