Katherine Lagaia, who is set to break out as the lead character in Disney’s upcoming live-action movie Moana, has been cast as the lead in Australian Gen Z thriller Crashout.
Deadhouse Films announced the cast for the project at the European Film Market in Berlin. The film will be Lagaia’s first project after landing a headline role in the Disney adaptation.
“Crash Out” follows three high school graduates who are stranded on a remote highway after a fatal car accident. In a desperate effort to cover up an unintentional crime, they fabricate a found footage film. This darkly comical satirical thriller explores themes of self-preservation and narrative control through the perspective of modern youth.
The film was written and directed by Nick Annas and produced by Deadhouse Films’ Helen Tuck and Enzo Tedeschi. The film will be executive produced by DeAnne Weir of Weir-Anderson Films and Bobby Lomia and Tiana Roberts of the newly formed Atypical Originals. Casting was handled by Stephanie Pringle and Alison Fowler of Chicken and Chips Casting.
Anas, now 19, wrote the screenplay when he was 17, “mainly in my childhood bedroom or in the back of my high school classroom,” the screenwriter and director said. “It feels quite surreal to have Katherine in the lead role in our first movie since ‘Moana’. ‘Crash Out’ will be very different, but Katherine’s fearless core is the very same bold energy that drives this film. There’s no one better to be trapped in the woods with.”
“Crash Out” is scheduled to begin production in Australia in March.
Laga’aia is repped by AIPA agency, Venture Entertainment Partners, CAA, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
