Deadline reports that Miranda Otto (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Zach Woods (Silicon Valley) and Zoë Chao (Strangers) have been tapped for supporting roles in Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s Downhill, the upcoming remake of the acclaimed 2014 Swedish dramedy Force Majeure. Fox Searchlight’s US remake will also star Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Downhill will follow the story of how a narrow avalanche escape during a ski vacation in the Alps throws a seemingly picture-perfect family into disarray as they are forced to reevaluate life, and how they truly feel about each other. The film was penned by Jesse Armstrong.
Written and directed by Ruben Östlund, the original Force Majeure took home the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard after its premiere at Cannes, offering a darkly comic psychodrama that focuses on the aftermath of one man’s act of cowardice towards his family after a seemingly disastrous event.
RELATED: Samara Weaving To Star In Ready or Not for Fox Searchlight
Dreyfus is also set to produce the film alongside The Land of Steady Habits‘ Anthony Bregman, while original director Östlund, original producer Erik Hemmendorff and Habits‘ Stefanie Azpiazu are all set to executive produce the remake.
Faxon and Rash will be reteaming following their directorial debut with 2013’s teen dramedy The Way, Way Back, which earned rave reviews from critics and audiences, and their scripting of the 2011 George Clooney-starring dramedy The Descendants, which earned them an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Faxon was most recently heard in the Netflix animated comedy Disenchantment, and Rash is set to star in the upcoming DC Universe animated series Harley Quinn.
RELATED: Holmes & Watson Trailer: Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly Star in the Holiday Comedy
Otto is best known for her role as Éowyn in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. She will next be seen in the second part of Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina that is slated to premiere in 2019. Woods has appeared in the Oscar-nominated film The Post starring alongside Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. His next project is Sony’s upcoming The Angry Birds Movie 2. Meanwhile, Chao will next be seen starring alongside Cate Blanchett in upcoming film adaptation of Maria Semple’s noverl, Where’d You Go Bernadette.
Shooting is set to get underway in Austria in early 2019 and casting is currently underway for supporting roles.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
