Woody Harrelson set to star in Rick Alverson's new suspense drama
Woody Harrelson is set to lead ‘Summer of Roses,’ a new suspense drama from filmmaker Rick Alverson. The project will reunite Harrelson with his ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ co-star Caleb Landry Jones. Hannah Gross and Kaya Wilkins, aka musician Okay Kaya, are also set to star. Alverson will direct from a script co-written with Micah Jayne.
‘Summer of Roses’ follows Thomas, played by Harrelson, a wealthy American expatriate living in Sicily, as he spirals into an intoxicated free-fall. The filmmakers have not revealed more story details about Thomas or the events that push him into the film’s suspense-driven plot. Harrelson will headline the film after a run of major television and movie roles. His casting adds another dramatic project to his slate alongside his upcoming work in crime, comedy and independent cinema.
The producers include Benjamin Loeb and Magnus Castracane of Small Problems, Tyler Davidson and Drew Sykes of Low Spark Films, and Marco Alessi and Massimiliano Navarra of Dugong Films. Alverson’s Made Bed Productions and Harrelson and Ilya Bronchtein’s Children at Play will be executive producers, while Katie Sanders will serve as co-producer.
Low Spark Films is financing the project in association with Gray’s It’s Not Pork and new-land. Harrelson has several projects lined up alongside ‘Summer of Roses.’ He will star opposite Matthew McConaughey in 'Brothers,' an Apple TV comedy that imagines the longtime friends as fictional versions of themselves who discover they might be brothers.
He will next appear in Quentin Dupieux’s ‘Full Phil’ with Kristen Stewart. Harrelson recently wrapped a lead role opposite Sam Rockwell in ‘The Cackling of the Dodos,’ a Netflix crime film directed by Jason Bateman. Harrelson has built a career across television, comedy, crime, and drama. He became widely known as Woody Boyd on ‘Cheers’ and later earned major film roles in ‘White Men Can't Jump,’ ‘Natural Born Killers,’ ‘The People vs. Larry Flynt,’ ‘No Country for Old Men,’ and ‘The Hunger Games.’ He also starred in HBO’s 'True Detective' Season 1 alongside Matthew McConaughey.
Rick Alverson previously directed 'The Mountain,' which starred Jeff Goldblum and premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival. His earlier films include 'Entertainment' and 'The Comedy,' both of which premiered at Sundance. He has worked in music videos too, directing projects for artists including 'Oneohtrix Point Never,' 'Sharon Van Etten,' 'Bonny Prince Billy,' and 'Angel Olsen.'
