Black Bear Pictures announced today that Academy Award®-Winner Riz Ahmed (The Long Goodbye, Sound of Metal, “The Night Of”) and Emmy-nominated actress Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”, Baby Driver) will star in the gripping contemporary new thriller Relay. Directed by David Mackenzie (Academy Award®-nominated Hell or High Water, Outlaw King, Starred Up) and written by Justin Piasecki and Mackenzie, the film will start production in New York and New Jersey in April. Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Sigma’s Gillian Berrie and Mackenzie will produce alongside Black Bear’s Academy Award®-nominated Teddy Schwarzman.
Executive producers include Black Bear’s Michael Heimler and John Friedberg, Thunder Road’s Erica Lee and Charlie Morrison. Black Bear will fully finance the film, and Black Bear International will handle international sales and introduce the film to buyers at EFM in Berlin. CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group, which together arranged the film’s financing with Black Bear, co-represent domestic rights.
In Relay, Tom (Ahmed) is a world class “fixer” who specializes in brokering lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten their ruin. He keeps his identity a secret through meticulous planning and always follows an exacting set of rules. But when a message arrives one day from potential client Sarah (James), needing Tom’s protection just to stay alive, the rules quickly start to change.
