Jul 19, 2018 6:13pm PT

Film News Roundup: Supernatural Romance Movie ‘Hush, Hush’ Taps Kellie Cyrus as Director

ByDave McNary

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Dave McNary

Film Reporter

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In today’s film news roundup, “Hush, Hush” is heading for the big screen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Anna Diop are cast in Jordan Peele’s “Us,” and Paris Jackson gets a part as a singer.

DIRECTOR HIRED

Television veteran Kellie Cyrus has been tapped to direct a movie adaption of Becca Fitzpatrick’s bestselling supernatural romance saga “Hush, Hush,”Variety has learned exclusively.

Cyrus will direct from an adaptation by Peter Hutchings. Producers are Claude Dal Farra, Brice Dal Farra, and Brian Keady of BCDF Pictures, along with Irfaan Fredericks of Kalahari Film & Media. Fitzpatrick, Hutchings, Simon Swart, and Kalahari’s Michael S. Murphey are the executive producers.

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“Hush, Hush,” published in 2009 as the first of a four-title series, was a New York Times Bestseller for more than 50 weeks. It has sold over five million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 35 languages. All four books — “Hush, Hush”; “Crescendo”; “Silence”; and “Finale” — debuted as New York Times bestsellers.

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BCDF has also enlisted the start-up, Fiction Riot, as a partner to develop mobile content for the film early next year.

Cyrus is best known for directing the supernatural TV franchises “The Vampire Diaries” and “The Originals” as well as an episode of the upcoming drama “You” from Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble. Fitzpatrick is the author of “Black Ice,” “Dangerous Lies,” and the “Hush, Hush” saga.

BCDF developed the adaptation. The company produced the female comedy “Bachelorette” and the comedy-romance “Liberal Arts.” and has been developing book properties for film and television, including “Can You Keep a Secret,” which has sold over four million copies, and “The Language of Flowers,” which spent 69 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Kalahari Film & Media is a South African production company which co-produced “District 9,” “Dredd 3D,” and the TV series “SAF3.”

A “Hush, Hush” project had been set up at LD Entertainment in 2012 but Fitzgerald announced in 2014 that she had decided not to renew the option.

Cyrus is repped by Paradigm and HertzbergMedia. Fitzpatrick is repped by Catherine Drayton at InkWell Management. BCDF is repped by Sheri Jeffrey at Hogan Lovells.

CASTINGS

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Anna Diop have joined the supporting cast of Jordan Peele’s thriller “Us,” joining  Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elizabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker.

Peele is directing from his own script. Details of the project are under wraps.

Abdul-Mateen II’s credits include “The Greatest Showman,” “First Match” and the upcoming “Aquaman.” Diop’s credits include Amazon’s “Bosch,” Fox’s “24: Legacy” and the upcoming DC Comics series “Titans.”

“Us” will be released by Universal Pictures on March 15, 2019. Peele produces for his Monkeypaw Productions alongside Sean McKittrick and Jason Blum. Also producing is Monkeypaw’s Ian Cooper. The news was first reported by Deadline.

*****

Paris Jackson will portray a singer in comedy-drama “The Space Between” opposite Kelsey Grammer and Jackson White.

Rachel Winter, a producer on “Dallas Buyers Club,” is directing the movie from a script by Will Aldis about the 1990s record industry in Los Angeles with Grammer portraying a forgotten rock star. Jackson will portray the love interest of White’s character.

Shooting is underway in Los Angeles. Michael Roiff, Milan Popelka and Steve Samuels are producing. Jackson, the daughter of Michael Jackson, appeared on Lee Daniels’ Fox series “Star” and on Nash Edgerton’s comedy actioner “Gringo.”

Jackson is represented by WME and Stiefel Entertainment. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

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