87North announced today that Vicky Jewson (“The Witcher: Blood Origin,” Close) will direct their upcoming action thriller Ballerina Overdrive. The film will star Lena Headey (“Game of Thrones,” Gunpowder Milkshake), Yara Shahidi (Peter Pan & Wendy, “Grown-ish”), Isabela Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Father of the Bride), Lana Condor (Coyote v. Acme, Moonshot), Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place, Wonderstruck) and Iris Apatow (The Bubble, “Love”). Based on a script by Kate Freund (Afterlife), 87North’s Kelly McCormick, David Leitch and Annie Marter will produce. Award-winning stunt designers Heidi Moneymaker and Renae Moneymaker—whose elite reputations in the action space include Stunt Coordinator credits on the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Project Artemis—are attached to create the film’s dance-based action choreography. Jenny Jue of Downtown Casting (Okja, Kate) cast the film. Vincent Maraval and Kim Fox’s The Veterans will handle international sales and introduce Ballerina Overdrive to buyers this month at EFM in Berlin, with CAA Media Finance handling domestic sales.
Ballerina Overdrive is about a troupe of ballerinas who find themselves fighting for survival as they attempt to escape from a remote inn after their bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition. Filming is set to commence in Serbia 2Q 2023.
87North is the production and action design company founded by director/producer David Leitch and producer Kelly McCormick whose high octane, bold and distinctively character driven action tent pole films—such as Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Nobody, Bullet Train, Violent Night and John Wick—have earned a combined total of over $2.59 billion in worldwide box office. Under its first look deal with Universal Pictures, 87North is currently in production on The Fall Guy with Leitch directing and McCormick and Leitch producing. Set for a 2024 theatrical release, the big screen take on the 1980s television show centered on a stuntman stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Winston Duke, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham and Stephanie Hsu.
