Bella: Ella Hunt to star in horror thriller produced by the writers of The Conjuring
Every December, I watch the great zombie horror comedy musical Anna and the Apocalypse, which stars Ella Hunt as Anna. I’m a big fan of her work in that film, so I’m always glad to see her show up in other projects, like Kevin Costner’s Horizon and Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night (where she played Gilda Radner). Deadline has broken the news of another Ella Hunt project, and it sounds like this one will be right up my alley: it’s a horror thriller called Bella, which is being produced by The Conjuring writers Chad and Carey Hayes.
Bella is the first project for the newly launched Hayes Brothers Films production banner. Scripted by Chris Grillot, it will show us what happens when a college student (Hunt) obsessed with winning her university’s upcoming beauty pageant begins to unravel under the pressure of her overbearing mother — and the arrival of a mysterious stalker she believes is sabotaging her shot at the crown. As the pageant nears, she races to uncover her stalker’s identity before it’s too late. This will mark the feature directorial debut of Chad Hayes’ son Dylan Doornbos Hayes, who has directed a number of short films over the years. One of those shorts, made in 2019, was called Bella and was written by Chris Grillot, so it sounds like this is a feature expansion of a concept they first dug into years ago.
All three of the Hayes are producing the film with Mandy June Turpin of Iron North Productions, Daniel Ragussis of Atomic Features, and Todd Slater of Convoke Media. It’s being produced in association with Kontakto Films. Executive producers include Kontakto’s Isabel Echeverry, and Ricky Russert of Atomic Features. Red Sea Media is handling the financing and world sales.
Hunt had this to say about the project: “When I read Bella I was immediately drawn into the psychological unravelling of this young woman grappling with toxic beauty standards and parental expectations, against a backdrop of pageantry. Having long wanted to explore a mother daughter dynamic on screen I couldn’t be more excited to embark on this.” Dylan Hayes added, “This is a story about beauty, control, and what happens when the mask cracks. Making my first feature with my dad and uncle producing feels surreal. I’ve spent my whole life watching them build character driven horror from the ground up. Chris’s script is incredibly layered, Ella is the perfect actor to bring Maria to life, and I’m grateful to Red Sea Media for backing this vision.” And the Hayes brothers said, “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be launching our Hayes Brothers Films banner with this incredible story that feels both bold and uniquely commercial. When Chris Grillot’s script for Bella came to us, we immediately recognized something rare. Since The Conjuring, we’ve read hundreds of scripts to consider producing, but his exceptional writing talent convinced us that this was the one.“
Does Bella sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this Ella Hunt / Hayes Brothers project by leaving a comment below.
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