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.
Rose’s
husband Will Morris filmed the experience along the way and produced a
documentary of the trip. The documentary was inspired by “the kindness
and faith in music of those she met including fans blocking the street
outside a gig above a launderette, trying to sleep on endless inter-city
bus rides and living with families in out-of-the-way towns.” 
