Previously under the working title Black Flies, the upcoming paramedic thriller Asphalt City is set to hit theaters on March 29. According to Deadline, Vertical and Roadside Attractions have co-acquired North American rights to the movie.
The thriller film starring Sean Penn (Mystic River) and Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One) had its world premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival under its working title. It is directed by French filmmaker Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (A Prayer Before Dawn), based on a screenplay by Ryan King and Ben Mac Brown.
Asphalt City serves as Vertical and Roadside Attractions latest collaboration following their previous works on 2021’s Benediction, 2022’s Emily the Criminal, and last year’s The Pod Generation.
What is Asphalt City about?
Based on Shannon Burke’s 2008 novel Black Flies, the thriller drama follows young paramedic Ollie Cross (Sheridan) as he gets assigned to work the graveyard shift alongside seasoned EMT Gene Rutkovsky (Penn). Spending his first year on the job in New York City, he gets to witness firsthand the crisis that’s ravaging the city as each call they receive reveals how dangerous and eye-opening their line of work can be.
In addition to Sheridan and Penn, Asphalt City also stars Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore), Michael C. Pitt (Ghost in the Shell), Mike Tyson (The Hangover), Raquel Nave (Bizarre Again), Kali Reis (True Detective: Night Country), and Gbenga Akkinagbe (Fast Charlie).
Asphalt City hails from Sculptor Media Production and is produced by Warren Goz, Eric Gold, Christopher Kopp, Lucan Toh, John Ira Palmer, John Wildermuth, and Tina Wang. Aside from starring in the film, both Sheridan and Penn also served as producers.
Executive producers are King, Burke, James Masciello, Matthew Sidari, Mitchell Zhang, Sauvaire, Jamie Buckner, Luke Rodgers, and Babak Anvari.
