EXCLUSIVE: Tyrese Gibson (Fast & Furious franchise), Billy Zane (Titanic), Jake Busey (Stranger Things) and Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name) are among cast for indie genre-bender Mascotland.
Writer-director Kerry Mondragon’s dark comedy coming-of-age thriller, previously announced as Mascots, has undergone casting changes since it was first announced last year.
Filming recently began in Los Angeles and surrounding desert. Salomé Breziner produces and cinematographer is Ben Braham Ziryab.
Zane stars as a disturbed kidnapper whose victims escape into the real world for the first time. The young adult brothers, played by Oliver Hibbs Wyman (Toad) and Blaine Kern III, struggle to adjust after a lifetime in captivity. Their story transforms into a redemptive one after they’re taken in by Gibson’s character. Busey will play the role originally planned for Udo Kier, who passed away late last year.
Also starring are Leo Fitzpatrick, James Paxton, Lin Shaye and Felicia ‘Snoop’ Pearson of The Wire fame.
Executive producers are Ben Lewin and Bryan Anderson, Matt Karol, Gabrielle Almagor, Samuel J Pauling, Jijo Reed, Sugar Studios, Maritime Artists, and Akashic Studios.
Mondragon previously directed Tyger Tyger with Dylan Sprouse.
Gibson is represented by IAG, Monami Management and Pearlman & Tishbi. Zane is with Paradigm. Kern is repped by the Alexander Gordon White Agency. Fitzgerald is with Kerner Management Associates, Pearson is with Ethos Entertainment.
