EXCLUSIVE: MGM has found its leads for the forthcoming Dark Harvest feature adaptation that is based on Norman Partridge’s 2007 Bram Stoker Award-wining novel of the same name. Casey Likes, who recurred in the Facebook Watch series The Birch and Fargo actress E’myri Crutchfield will star in the horror film, which is being directed by David Slade.
Michael Gilio penned the screenplay. In the film, every fall in a small Midwestern town, a supernatural specter rises from the cornfields and makes its way toward the town’s Church, where violent gangs of teenage boys hungrily await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare in an annual harvest rite of life and death. Richie Shepard lives in the shadow of his big brother who won last year’s Run and earned his ticket out of town. To prove himself and join his brother, Richie pairs up with Kelly Haines, a restless dreamer who will do whatever it takes to escape this dead-end town. Against the rules and the odds, Richie and Kelly decide to hunt down the legendary nightmare to win the Run and their freedom, together.
Matt Tolmach and David Manpearl are producing Dark Harvest via Matt Tolmach Productions (Jumanji, Venom). Shooting will commence in August 2021 as the film is slated to be released in theaters on September 9, 2022, through MGM’s joint distribution company, United Artists Releasing.
Likes’ upcoming roles include playing Kiss legend Gene Simmons in the upcoming Neil Bogart biopic Spinning Gold, and he’s set to star in the Broadway musical adaptation of Almost Famous. He is repped by Silver Lining Entertainment, CESD, and Brecheen Feldman Breimer Silver Thompson.
Crutchfield, who joined the FX critically acclaimed anthology series Fargo in the fourth season, can currently be seen in the Amazon Prime series Tell Me Your Secrets. She is repped by Untitled and CAA.