Prolific actor Vanessa Marano, who starred or guest starred in a number of high-profile TV series throughout the 2000s, will produce and star in the bridal party horror comedy The Ring Leader.
Marano is behind the 2022 Netflix original romantic comedy The Royal Treatment, which became the number one streamer worldwide upon release, and is producing the feature through his U.S. production company Calabrian Road.
British Columbia-based director Jason Lapeia is co-producing the film through his Osaka Sunset Pictures label. Both are participating in Fantasia Film Festival’s Frontier Co-Production Market, presenting their projects to genre buyers and the industry at the marquee event on July 22nd.
“Our goal is to exit the market with a partner who will help us achieve our Gap Finance goals,” Marano told Variety. “We will be shooting in British Columbia, and the tax incentives from Canada will allow us to make a commercially viable film on a realistic scale without sacrificing our passion or vision.”
Marano, best known for starring in five seasons of the global TV hit Switched at Birth (2011-2017), has been building a career behind the camera in recent years. She founded Calabrian Road in 2018 with her mother, a longtime HBO Primetime Emmy Awards consultant, and her sister, singer, producer and actor Laura Marano, who starred in “The Royal Treatment.”
LaPerre’s genre features include In Cold Blood, which won Fantasia’s Best Canadian Film Audience Award in 2012, and I Declare War (2013), which won several awards on the festival circuit.
Marano said she and Lapeyre, who they became friends on set in 2013, had been talking about collaborating for years. Most recently, she was discussing potential projects with Elana Dunkelman and writing partner Becky Shrimpton. “We all got together on a video call and started brainstorming ideas for one of the darkest, scariest horror scenarios of all time: the bridal party.
“Elana and Becky have written a wonderful script that truly captures the complex emotions involved in Bridesmaids: absolute wild fun and bone-chilling emotional pain. It’s a cross between Bridesmaids and Send Help.”
Frontière’s co-production market will be held at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival from July 22nd to 25th.
