STXfilms has successfully acquired the rights to producer Michael Bay’s upcoming pandemic thriller film titled Songbird, which was one of the few projects that was able to continue filming during the widespread lockdown back in March. Starring Riverdale star KJ Apa and former Disney Channel star Sofia Carson, the film had recently wrapped its production in Los Angeles.
“We are thrilled to acquire this timely and urgent movie,” Chairman of STXfilms Motion Picture Group, Adam Fogelson said in a statement (via Deadline). “This year has irrevocably changed the way people interact with each other and their surroundings, and the reverberations will be profound; with all of 2020 underlying every frame of the movie, Songbird will be relevant, moving, and sentimental as a love story, while also scary as hell. We have been longtime fans and friends of many of the creative team behind Songbird. We are looking forward to working with Michael, Adam, Andrew, and the teams at Invisible Narratives and Catchlight Films, who have been behind some of the best recent films that marry realistic science fiction and emotional storylines in an effective and terrifying way.”
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Songbird is said to be set two years in the future during a pandemic lockdown and follows the love story between motorbike courier Nico (Apa), who has a rare immunity to the disease, and Sara (Carson), a young artist. Nico overcomes martial law, murderous vigilantes, and a powerful, well-connected family, helmed by a matriarch who will stop at nothing to protect her family and maintain her way of life.
“Songbird is a story of hope in the midst of tragedy that we felt a pressing need to tell as we all live through the single greatest health crisis of our lifetimes. Everyone at STX understands and appreciates this film deep in their core,” Producers Adam Goodman and Andrew Sugerman said. “Their commitment to Songbird has assured us that we are in the best possible hands, and we’re excited to be working with them on this adventure.”
In addition to KJ Apa and Sofia Carson, the call sheet for the film is said to feature an ensemble cast that includes Demi Moore (Corporate Animals), Bradley Whitford (Godzilla: King of the Monsters), Craig Robinson (What We Do in the Shadows), Jenna Ortega (Elena of Avalor), Paul Walter Hauser (Da 5 Bloods) and Peter Stormare (American Gods).
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Songbird is directed by Adam Mason (Into the Dark) from a script written by Simon Boyes. Bay is producing alongside Adam Goodman and Andrew Eben Davidson of Invisible Narratives, who are also financing the project. The film is also produced by Catchlight Studios’ Jeanette Volturno, Jason Clark and Marcei Brown with Michael Kase and Invisible Narratives’ Eben Davidson set as executive producers.
The film is one of the first to go into production in Los Angeles as the real pandemic lockdown is slowly being lifted and the imposition of new safety restrictions make it possible for Hollywood to start slowly resume filming.
(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
