EXCLUSIVE: Kelly Marie Tran (The Wedding Banquet) and David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil) are set to topline Kodak SuperXX, a psychological thriller marking the feature directorial debut of Auden Bui, which is going into production this year.
Written by Tony Rettenmaier (They Cloned Tyrone), the indie is set against an atmospheric Los Angeles and follows Linh (Tran), a quiet woman whose solitary life revolves around her work as a darkroom developer at one of the city’s last boutique photo labs. Her quiet existence takes a paranoid turn when she becomes entangled with a mysterious stranger (Dastmalchian), whose photographs reveal a dark secret.
Tonally, the project is compared to to Nightcrawler and Francis Ford Coppola’s classic The Conversation. Dastmalchian and Jen Iacobino will produce under their Good Fiend Films banner (Late Night with the Devil), alongside Rettenmaier & Juel Taylor (They Cloned Tyrone, Creed II) and Death Ground’s Jesse Ford, Josh Feldman, and Sean King O’Grady (I Love My Dad, The Assistant). Feras M. Shammami of Robinwood7 will serve as executive producer.
Said Bui: “I’m excited to embark on this journey with Kelly and David to create a film that aims to provoke, challenge and hopefully leave audiences both uncomfortable and turned on.”
Added producers Dastmalchian and Iacobino: “Good Fiend Films is excited to be helping bring this story to the screen with a director of powerful vision and the artists who will shape the world of KODAK SuperXX. This haunting and complex narrative explores the murky shadows of human nature in a way that invites audiences to be challenged, entertained and transported.”
Best known for her role as Rose Tico in Star Wars films The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, Tran can be seen in the third season of Netflix’s Sweet Tooth and also previously starred in Disney’s Oscar-nominated animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon. Up next, she’ll be seen in Andrew Ahn’s remake of The Wedding Banquet, which is set to premiere at Sundance. Her slate also includes the horror film Rock Springs opposite Benedict Wong and Jimmy O. Yang, WorthenBrooks’ psychological thriller Control Freak for Hulu Originals, and the indie Forge from another first-time feature filmmaker, Jing Ai Ng. She is repped by CAA, M88, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.
Coming off the buzzy release of supernatural horror flick Late Night with the Devil, Dastmalchian has also recently been seen in films like Oppenheimer, The Boogeyman and Dune: Part One. Next up, he’ll be seen in Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck, which won the coveted Audience Award at last fall’s Toronto Film Festival and will be released in theaters by Neon on September 6. Other projects on his dance card include Bryan Fuller’s horror thriller Dust Bunny, Season 2 of Netflix’s One Piece, and Apple’s sci-fi series Murderbot, in which he stars opposite Alexander Skarsgård. He is repped by Atlas Artists and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
A cinematographer by trade, Bui has previously directed shorts including A.A., Dream Boy or the Pursuit of Being, Train Stop, The Lost City of Tomorrow, and Death’s Waiting Room. She is repped by Circle Management + Production.
Rettenmaier is with WME, Gotham Group, Redefine Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
