Maika Monroe is changing Margaret Qualley in an adaptation of the novel thriller “Victorian Psycho.”
Qualley parted methods with “Victorian Psycho” mere weeks earlier than filming was set to start out in February. A24, which additionally boarded the mission in its early days of improvement, has additionally quietly exited the characteristic and hasn’t been hooked up for some time, a supply confirmed to IndieWire. With Monroe hooked up, “Victorian Psycho” will once more be shopped on the Cannes market.
Qualley would’ve reunited with “Sanctuary” director Zachary Wigon, who remains to be hooked up to direct, as is co-star Thomasin McKenzie. Manufacturing was going to start out in February 2025 in Dublin, Eire. A consultant confirmed to IndieWire that Qualley had a sudden scheduling battle and needed to exit the mission. It’s now set to start filming in August.
“Victorian Psycho” is ready in 1858 and story facilities on Winifred Notty, a governess hiding her psychopathic tendencies as she works at a distant gothic manor. The logline teases: “However as the lady takes care of her costs, workers members start to inexplicably disappear, and the house owners of the property start to marvel, too late thoughts you, if their new governess is serving up a spoonful of sugar with just a little arsenic on the facet.” Virginia Feito wrote the novel and likewise wrote the screenplay.
The “Longlegs” actress is reuniting with producer Dan Kagan on the mission, who additionally produced each her movies “Longlegs” and “Azrael.”
Because the movie is not at A24, it’s a gross sales title now, and IndieWire understands the movie already has a number of affords; Anton is absolutely financing the movie and is repping worldwide rights, with U.S. rights co-represented by Anton, UTA Unbiased Movie Group, and CAA Media Finance. Sébastien Raybaud is producing in affiliation with Nameless Content material. Nick Shumaker, Bard Dorros, and Virginia Feito will govt produce.
“Maika’s intense display screen presence has resonated with me time and again all through her historical past of complicated performances,” director Wigon stated in a press assertion. “I’m completely thrilled for her to convey her distinctive model of psychological portraiture to the fascinatingly weird Winifred Notty.”
Qualley instructed IndieWire in late January 2025 that she was present process intensive prep work to play a governess who’s taking good care of youngsters in a distant gothic manor whereas hiding her psychopathic tendencies.
“I’ve by no means executed a British accent earlier than, in order that’s terrifying,” Qualley stated on the time. “I’ve been engaged on the accent, and my poor husband, I’ve restricted our films to solely British accent films. I learn this e book on the Victorian life and it was actually attention-grabbing. It’s simply type of wonderful how a lot we’ve advanced in such a short while interval.”
She added, “And I’ve been sporting a corset round the home to get snug with that. It’s truly not as dangerous as you suppose if it matches effectively, and it’s type of enjoyable. I’m simply making an attempt to get used to shifting just a little bit in a different way.”
As for the scheduling battle, it’s unclear which mission made Qualley drop out of “Victorian Psycho.” Qualley has a full slate of movies within the works together with Ethan Coen’s “Honey Don’t!” She additionally lately appeared in Richard Linklater’s Lorenz Hart biopic “Blue Moon,” which debuted at Berlin.