EXCLUSIVE: Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Oscar nominee Guy Pearce (The Brutalist) and Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) have been set to topline crime-thriller The Teller.
Ben Ripley’s directorial debut, from his own script, is being described by producers as in the vein of The Usual Suspects and The Town.
Altitude is handling international sales and will introduce the project to buyers in Cannes. CAA Media Finance and Verve Ventures will handle domestic rights.
Set in San Francisco, the movie “will tell the story of Violet, an overlooked bank teller whose life takes a turn when a rogue FBI agent manipulates her into robbing her own bank, but the heist is just the opening move in a much bigger con.”
Ripley is best known for the sci-fi action-thriller Source Code, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Duncan Jones. That film was conceived as an original spec script that Ripley wrote. Additional credits include Niels Arden Oplev’s Flatliners, Francois Girard’s Boychoir and Justin Lin’s Last Days.
Pic will be produced by Martin Brennan (Worldbreaker) for Teller Films UK alongside Jessica Malanaphy (Look Both Ways) and Samantha Shear (Shades Of Ray).
A UK-Irish co-production, the project is aiming for a late fall shoot in Northern Ireland, with post-production in the Republic of Ireland.
Stephanie Hsu is represented by CAA, and Ziffren Brittenham LLP. Guy Pearce is represented by CAA, Independent Talent, Shanahan Management, and Sloane, Offer. Hannah Waddingham is represented by CAA, Atlas Artists, and Jackoway Austen. Ben Ripley is represented by Verve Ventures, Brillstein, and Stankevich Law. Jessica Malanaphy is represented by Verve.