Lady A Pictures has announced that Rhys Wakefield (The Purge, “True Detective”) will star in Anthony Garland’s (Ophelia, Snake) Alternate. Garland wrote and will direct the sci-fi horror thriller, which will be produced by Lady A Pictures’ Ali Mueller (Ophelia) and SLA Films’ Anna Vincent (I Am Mother, Chasing Wonders). Kindred Spirit’s Anita Gou (The Farewell, Honey Boy) will Executive Produce. Endeavor Content is handling the North American rights with Rialto Distribution releasing in Australia and New Zealand. Screen Australia is providing major production support with additional support provided by the South Australian Film Corporation. The film is set to start principal photography in early 2021 in Adelaide, Australia.
Set in a high-rise office building, Alternate follows an overworked young executive (Wakefield) who goes back in time four hours to save his girlfriend from being killed. The film inspired Garland’s proof of concept short Snake which follows a girl working late one night who gets stuck in a time loop. Snake, written and directed by Garland, was produced by Mueller and William Day Frank, with Gou serving as EP. The short is currently making the festival circuit and premiered on November 12th as an Official Selection at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival.
Producer Mueller said: “Anthony’s vision for this project has brought together an incredible team of people and we are grateful to be moving forward.”
Garland continued: “The most important thing with Alternate was to find the right guy, because the role is so demanding and varied. Rhys is compelling in everything he does and we’re fortunate to have an actor of his caliber on the project.”
Garland brings a unique, multi-cultural approach to his work across a variety of disciplines on music videos and commercials for companies and artists including Netflix, Warner Bros, Nike, General Electric, Volkswagen, McDonald’s, Lana Del Rey and The Veronicas. In addition to writing and directing Snake, in 2016 Anthony wrote, directed and edited Ophelia, which was featured in Cannes Short Film Corner. Alternate marks his feature film directorial debut. Garland is represented by Matthew Wallerstein at Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof and Fishman.
