Shooting has wrapped on Went Up the Hill, the psychological ghost story starring Cannes award winner Vicky Krieps and Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery.
Above is a first look at the Samuel Van Grinsven flick, which is headed for next week’s AFM via Bankside Films. Buyers in LA will be presented with a promo reel, with Bankside repping international sales and co-repping North American rights with CAA Media Finance.
The film was shot on location in New Zealand and was the latest collaboration between London-based Bankside and Causeway Films following their partnership on Danny & Michael Philippou’s Talk to Me, which is nearing $100M at the global box office. We first told you about it last year.
Went Up the Hill stars Montgomery as Jack and Krieps as Jill. Abandoned as a child, Jack ventures to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother and there meets her grieving widow, Jill. But his search for answers becomes dangerous when his mother’s ghost returns to inhabit both Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other, and instigating a life-threatening nocturnal dance between the three of them.
The film is the second from New Zealand-born filmmaker Van Grinsven, who wrote the screenplay with Jory Anast. His first, also co-written by Anast, was Sequin in A Blue Room. It world premiered at the Sydney Film Festival in 2019, where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. Van Grinsven is represented by RGM Artists Australia and Grandview in the U.S.
Krieps recently won the Best Actress award in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard for her role in Corsage, which was last year’s official Austrian entry for Oscars. She went on star in Martin Bourboulon’s The Three Musketeers; Viggo Mortenson’s sophomore feature The Dead Don’t Hurt; and Emily Atef’s More Than Ever. Most recent credits include Mia Hansen-Løve’s Bergman Island, Barry Levinson’s The Survivor, Mathieu Amalric’s Serre Moi Fort (Hold Me Tight); and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar nominated Phantom Thread alongside Daniel Day Lewis. She is represented by CAA, Agence Adéquat, Wasted Management, Narrative and Tapestry.
Montgomery is known for his roles in Netflix’s Stranger Things and in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. He’ll next be seen in Legendary’s Faces of Death from filmmaker Daniel Goldhaber. He is represented by CAA.
Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton of Causeway Films produced Went Up the Hill with Vicky Pope of POP Film (Savage, Two Little Boys). The film received major production investment from the New Zealand Film Commission and Screen Australia. It was financed with support from Screen CanterburyNZ, Fulcrum Media Finance, the New Zealand Government’s Screen Production Rebate and Head Gear Films. Vendetta Films is handling Australia and New Zealand distribution. Post, digital and visual effects are supported by Screen NSW, Stage 23, RM Sound and Spectrum Films.
