Category: news

Lucy Hale to Star in Romantic Comedy ‘Princess’ From ‘The Cooler’ Screenwriter Frank Hannah

“Pretty Little Liars” and “Which Brings Me to You” star Lucy Hale will topline the romantic comedy “Princess” from “The Cooler” screenwriter Frank Hannah.

Daniel Baur’s K5 Intl. has boarded “Princess” as its international sales agent and will commence sales at Berlinale’s European Film Market.

The plot centers on a woman who finally meets the man of her dreams, but first, she must contend with her beloved’s bulldog, Princess, who has a history of destroying any relationship her owner engages in. Think “Monster-in-Law” in tone.

Principal photography is anticipated to commence in Ireland spring 2025.

Best known for her breakout role on the hit series “Pretty Little Liars,” Hale has gone on to become an international star through films such as the romantic comedy “Which Brings Me to You,” Vertical’s “The Hating Game” and Sony’s “Fantasy Island.” Hale will star in Lionsgate and BuzzFeed Studios’ upcoming action comedy “F Marry Kill,” which hits theaters March 2025.

Two-time Emmy-winning stunt coordinator Shauna Duggins will make her feature directorial debut. She directs on Ryan Murphy’s “9-1-1” and directs second unit on “Yes Day!” and “Family Switch.” She directed second unit “GLOW,” “Dexter: Original Sin,” “The Last Thing He Told Me” and “The Lincoln Lawyer.”

Duggins recently worked on “Deadpool & Wolverine” with Jennifer Garner, whom she has doubled for since “Alias.” Duggins has also doubled for Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett.

Duggins made history at the creative Emmys by becoming the first woman to win an Emmy for outstanding stunt coordination and won the SAG award for her stunt work on “GLOW.”

“Lucy Hale is one of the most dynamic and versatile actresses of her generation, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to collaborate with her on this wildly fun and unpredictable adventure,” Duggins stated. “I can’t wait to explore our comedic choreography as she takes on the ultimate challenge – outlasting and outwitting her canine adversary!”

Strong Island’s Christopher Tuffin (“Sound of Freedom,” “Peppermint”), who conceived the story and characters, will produce alongside Emmy nominee Renee Tab of Sentient (“Maps to the Stars,” “Sound of Freedom”), Amanda Delaplaine (upcoming “Alphas”), and Ari Novak (“Sleeping Dogs”).

“I began my career in comedy working with the Farrelly Bros, Ben Stiller and Jerry Lewis, and as a manager for several of the biggest names in stand-up, so ‘Princess’ is part of a natural evolution for me to return to producing the kind of slapstick, take-no-prisoners humor I grew up on,” Tuffin says. “Blend that with the physical comedy that Shauna Duggins is known for throughout Hollywood and the breakout comedy potential heightens exponentially.”

Julie Kroll, Nadezda Motina, Aram Ovannisyan, Sophie Delaplaine and Baur will executive produce alongside Todd Slater and Brandon Evans on behalf of Brick Lane, which also serves as the production service company in Ireland.

Strong Island’s production and finance legal/business affairs will be handled by Jere R. Hausfater and Larry Weinberg.

Hale is repped by CAA and Elissa Leeds at Reel Talent Management. Duggins is repped by Sentient Entertainment, Strong Island and UTA. Hannah is repped by Strong Island.

K5 Intl.’s slate of films includes Mafia-JFK assassination story “November 1963,” directed by Roland Joffé, starring John Travolta, Dermot Mulroney and Mandy Patinkin, along with “The Butler,” starring Jean Reno. Last year, K5 Intl. was re-launched with Kevin Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga.”

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Lucy Hale Set For Wayne Kramer Thriller ‘My One And Only’; Film Bridge Launching Sales At Cannes

Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars) has signed on to star in My One and Only, a psychological thriller from writer-director Wayne Kramer (The Cooler) that’s being presented for worldwide sales at Cannes by Film Bridge International.

Set to go before cameras in July, the film centers on Molly (Hale), a recently widowed young woman, suicidal with grief, who is abducted by a man intent on reinventing her as his dead wife — unleashing in Molly a fierce will to live

Siena Oberman (The Good Mother) will produce for Artemis along with Steven Schneider (Late Night with the Devil, Split) and David Guglielmo (The Last Stop in Yuma County) for Spooky Pictures. Greg Lauritano (Fairyland) is executive producing alongside Phil Hunt for Head Gear, as well as DC Cassidy, Udaya Sharma and Michael Fisk for Interstellar Entertainment.

“Lucy Hale is one of the most gifted actors of her generation, and I’m excited to work with her on this unconventional and terrifying psychological thriller,” Kramer stated. “Audiences are going to see a new side to her with this performance. I can’t wait to bring it to the screen.”

Added Film Bridge International’s Ellen Wander and Jordan Dykstra, “We are extremely excited to be presenting such elevated material to our customers. Led by a top-notch team, we know audiences will be on the edge of their seats.”

Best known for roles in Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars, as well as films like Fantasy Island and Truth or Dare, Hale has most recently been seen starring in the romantic comedies Which Brings Me to You and Puppy Love, as well as AMC+’s crime drama Ragdoll. Coming up, she’ll also be seen starring in the indie Mort in Sherman Oaks, as well as F*** Mary Kill, an action comedy from Lionsgate and BuzzFeed Studios.

Best known for co-writing and directing the Las Vegas-set romantic drama The Cooler, starring William H. Macy, Maria Bello and Alec Baldwin, which brought the latter an Oscar nomination, Kramer’s other past credits include Running Scared and Pawn Shop Chronicles — a pair of titles starring the late Paul Walker — and the Harrison Ford starrer Crossing Over.

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Lucy Hale Calls Sobriety “the Greatest Gift I’ve Given Myself

Lucy Hale marked her second full year of sobriety in a celebratory Instagram post, calling quitting drinking “the greatest gift I’ve given myself.”
The Pretty Little Liars alum, 34, thanked her followers and fans for accepting her on her continued sobriety journey, writing that “to be able to show up as myself and to be greeted with such warmth and acceptance is something I do not take for granted.” She shared an image of a sobriety tracking app, tallying all 731 days since her last drink.

In a 2023 interview, Hale, then just over a year sober, opened up for the first time about her struggles with alcohol, saying at the time, “I have been working on getting sober since I was 20. I’m 33. It took time. It took patience with myself.”

She said that she’d leaned on alcohol for years since her first drink at age 14, believing that “the real Lucy came out when she was drinking. It also quieted my mind…my brain just doesn’t shut off and it’s exhausting.” She described herself as “a textbook binge drinker, blackout, wouldn’t remember what I did or what I said, which is scary.”

She said then that she’d never been a “normal, moderate drinker.”

“I was willing to go to this crazy dark place every time,” she said. “My brain doesn’t work the same way as someone who can just have a glass of wine. It always wants more. It’s craving that feeling.”

Without drinking, she said, she knows she’s showing up as her true self. “I can be Lucy, which is not always cute at times,” she said. “It’s dark and disgusting and scary and that’s what makes us all complex, beautiful human beings, is we all have got this shadow self.”

Now, another year down the line, she shared encouragement for others who may be looking to quit drinking, and a touch of advice.

“If you are struggling please know you are not alone and that you do not have to trek this path alone,” she wrote. “There is no right or wrong way to heal and it is deeply personal and unique to each of us. My only advice is to remain open hearted, curious, and to find the people who see and support you. It does get better. Take it moment by moment.”

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Nat Wolff and Lucy Hale Rom-Com ‘Which Brings Me to You’ Acquired by Decal Releasing

Decal Releasing has acquired “Which Brings Me to You,” a romantic comedy starring Lucy Hale and Nat Wolff. The movie is based on a novel by Steve Almond and Julianna Baggott. It is directed by Peter Hutchings, who previously helmed “The Hating Game.”  Keith Bunin (“Onward”) wrote the script. The film will be released in theaters on Jan. 19.

The ensemble also includes Britne Oldford (“Free Guy”), Genevieve Angelson (“The Upside”), Alexander Hodge (“Insecure”) and John Gallagher, Jr. (“10 Cloverfield Lane”). Hale worked with Hutchings on “The Hating Game.” Her other credits include “Pretty Little Liars” and “Fantasy Island.” Wolff has appeared in “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Paper Towns.”

“We’re thrilled to work with such a talented production team. Lucy and Nat are a perfect duo and we can’t wait to start the New Year with this charming romantic comedy,” Ayo Kepher-Maat, Decal’s SVP of acquisitions, said.

“Which Brings Me to You” follows two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, who connect at the wedding of a mutual pal. One hookup in the coatroom later and they’re spending the next 24 hours together, trading stories about their romantic pasts and prior heartbreaks.

Kepher-Maat negotiated rights for the film with David Garrett from Mister Smith representing the filmmakers.

“’Which Brings Me to You’ has turned out magnificently and we’re very happy to be working alongside Decal as they bring this to audiences in the New Year,” Garrett said. “The perfect antidote to the cold winter months ahead, we hope this film warms viewers’ hearts as much as ours.”

Produced by Claude Dal Farra and Brian Keady, the film was also executive produced by Hale and Wolff along with Decal Releasing’s Sara Castillo and Kepher-Maat.

Launched in 2021, Decal’s releases have included “Ride the Eagle,” starring J.K. Simmons and Susan Sarandon; “The Last Son” with Sam Worthington and Thomas Jane; and the sci-fi comedy “I’m Totally Fine” starring Jillian Bell.

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Lucy Hale says she ‘had to fight for’ her role on ‘disturbing’ serial killer thriller Ragdoll

There’s nothing pretty or little about what’s haunting Lucy Hale in Ragdoll.

The Pretty Little Liars alum is starting a new chapter in her career with AMC+’s six-episode drama based on the novel by Daniel Cole. She stars as a “fish-out-of-water” American detective constable, Lake Edmunds, who’s working a gruesome case in London where six murder victims have been dismembered and sewn into one grotesque body nicknamed “the Ragdoll.”

“I feel like I’ve been preparing my whole life for this role because I love true crime,” Hale tells EW about the “dark” and “disturbing” new series. “I’ve always wanted to be a part of a show like this because this is the genre I gravitate towards naturally. I watch all the true crime documentaries and listen to the podcasts. And this show is right on the money for what true crime people are into.”

Ragdoll (premiering Nov. 11) also stars Henry Lloyd-Hughes (The Irregulars) and Thalissa Teixeira (Too Close, The Musketeers) as the two other detectives assigned to this case along with Hale’s character. “These three detectives become taunted by the serial killer, and they’re trying to hunt down who it is,” Hale says. But, she adds, this “serial killer thriller” is unique because it’s also funny — which makes sense, seeing as how it comes from the brilliant minds behind Killing Eve.

“There’s a lot of comedy within the whole gruesomeness of what the show is about,” Hale says. “It’s British humor so it’s not like slapstick at all, but it definitely makes for an interesting mix to have this very intense, dark case that these detectives are working on, but the banter between the detectives, they never really take each other or themselves too seriously.”

Hale laughs as she reveals she thankfully didn’t need to attempt a British accent for the series. “My character actually is American in the show,” she says. “I think a lot of my friends and family think I’m playing a Brit because it’s set London and everyone else is British.”

While Hale loves the true crime genre, bringing Edmunds to life was what really excited her about Ragdoll. “My character is so much fun to play because she’s super headstrong, really intelligent, well-educated, feminist, stands her ground, kind of in over her head but doesn’t let people know that, and she says all the things that people are thinking but never have the guts to,” Hale says. “She’s really suspicious of one of the characters right from the beginning, and she has something that she’s carrying with her that’s really weighing on her and is really heavy; it’s followed her all the way to a different country.”

Throughout her wide-ranging career, Hale has never played a character like this — and that’s why she’s thrilled to get to show a new side of her talents. “She’s definitely a lot more rough around the edges and edgier than a lot of the characters I’ve played,” Hale says. “If I’m being honest, I didn’t think I had a shot at it because this is really different for me. But I knew that I could do it. I had to fight for it. It’s just been such a nice challenge doing something super different.”

If “A” could see her now.

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Lucy Hale’s ‘Ragdoll’ Series For AMC, Alibi Starts Production in U.K.

“Ragdoll,” the new AMC-Alibi thriller starring Lucy Hale (“Pretty Little Liars”), has started production in London, Variety has learned.

Hale plays DC Lake Edmunds, a new recruit at the London Metropolitan Police, who is tasked with investigating a murderer known as the “Ragdoll Killer”. She is joined by Henry Lloyd-Hughes (“The Irregulars”) as DS Nathan Rose and Thalissa Teixeira (“Anne Boleyn”) as DI Emily Baxter.

As the case develops, the trio come under increasing public scrutiny, especially when the killer — whose modus operandi involves murdering and dismembering his victims before sewing them back together in the shape of one grotesque body — begins taunting Edmunds and her colleagues by sending them a list of his intended victims, which includes Rose.

Shooting started at the end of April and has continued through May in central London.

Based on Daniel Cole’s eponymous novel, the six-part show is scheduled to premiere later this year on cabler AMC in the U.S. and on BBC Studios-backed pay-TV channel Alibi in the U.K.

Freddy Syborn serves as lead writer and executive producer while Toby MacDonald and Niall MacCormick direct. Sally Woodward Gentle and Lee Morris of Sid Gentle Films, the producers behind BBC America series “Killing Eve”, are also executive producing the series, together with Philippa Collie Cousins on behalf of Alibi and Dan McDermott and Kristin Jones, who commissioned “Ragdoll” for AMC. Lizzie Rusbridger is producing.

Cousins commissioned the show for Alibi, alongside Pete Thornton, head of scripted. The show was ordered by Alibi channel director Emma Ayech.

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