EXCLUSIVE: Laysla De Oliveira, star of Paramount+’s Lioness, and Italian actor Riccardo Scamarcio (A Haunting in Venice) have wrapped on Telephone, an indie sci-fi thriller directed by Anthony Scott Burns.
Shot in Sudbury, Ontario, with The Walking Dead‘s Gale Anne Hurd among its EPs, Telephone follows Sandy, who is abducted by her mysterious neighbors and told she must travel back in time to save the future. Once in the past, she faces a choice: trust these strangers for the sake of mankind or follow another traveler who offers to help her prevent the tragedy that shaped her life.
Hailing from Valhalla Entertainment, Beyond the Frame and 10.80 Films, the film also stars Rohan Campbell (The Monkey), Tenika Davis (Spartacus: House of Ashur), and Michael Greyeyes (Blood Quantum).
Script is by Jack Stanley, with revisions by Burns. The film is produced by Jason Ross Jallet, Andrew Bronfman, Jonathan Bronfman and Benoit Roland, with Hurd, Todd Brown, Jack Stanley and Phillip Kobylanski as executive producers.
Hurd told Deadline: “Not only were we blessed with a fantastic cast on Telephone, but our director, Anthony Scott Burns, is an incredible talent. His vision for the film is apparent in every frame and, having worked with some of the world’s top directors, I can absolutely see him joining their ranks.”
Earlier this month, Brazilian-Canadian actress De Oliveira won the award for Breakthrough Actress – Series at the Critics Choice Association’s Celebración of Cinema & Television. This was for her starring role opposite Zoe Saldaña in Taylor Sheridan’s Lioness. She’s also been seen starring in Netflix’s Locke & Key and is repped by Gersh, Wright Entertainment, and Myman Greenspan.
Scamarcio won Best Actor in the Orizzonti sidebar competition of this year’s Venice Film Festival for his work in the film I Figli Della Scimmia (Children of the Monkey). He is repped by Tavistock Wood Management and Plan A.
Burns’ past films include the indies Come True and Our House. He’s earned multiple nominations at Directors Guild of Canada Awards and is repped by SpectreVision.
Campbell is repped by CAA, Webster Talent Management and Sol22; Davis by Buchwald and Zero Gravity; Greyeyes by TalentWorks, The Arc, and Mills Kaplan Entertainment; and screenwriter Stanley by Silent R Management and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.