(L-R) Maria Bakalova, Madeleine Sackler and David Strathairn
Joseph Sinclair/Reto Sterchi/Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
EXCLUSIVE: Oscar nominees Maria Bakalova (Bodies Bodies Bodies) and David Strathairn (Nomadland) will topline O Horizon — the second narrative feature from Emmy winner Madeleine Sackler (O.G.), which wrapped production last fall.
The film written and directed by Sackler follows Abby (Bakalova), a brilliant, young neuroscientist who has recently lost her father, Warren (Strathairn), and drowns her grief by spending her days working with a monkey named Dorey. Abby meets a programmer, Sam, who has created a technology that reconnects Abby with her beloved father. Her relationship with her digitized dad then forces her to re-examine everything from her romantic relationships to her life’s work.
Producers on the project include Joseph Cross, Audrey Tommassini and Paul Nelson. CAA Media Finance is selling worldwide rights
Sackler is best known for directing and producing HBO’s O.G. — a groundbreaking 2018 drama, filmed entirely within a maximum-security prison, that had Jeffrey Wright starring alongside dozens of incarcerated men. HBO in the same year released her News & Documentary Emmy-nominated documentary It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It, which she co-directed with 13 incarcerated men.
Bakalova earned her 2021 Oscar nomination for her breakout supporting turn opposite Sacha Baron Cohen in his long-awaited sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, released by Prime Video. She recently starred in Halina Reijn’s acclaimed horror-comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies for A24, and has been tapped to voice Cosmo the Spacedog in James Gunn’s Marvel franchise closer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, having also played that role in the recent Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special. She’ll also soon be seen in the Sofia Coppola-produced drama Fairyland, which is world premiering at Sundance 2023, and the Jerry Seinfeld-directed comedy Unfrosted for Netflix, among other projects.
Landing his Best Actor nom for George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck., Strathairn has more recently been seen in Sony’s hit drama Where the Crawdads Sing, based on the novel by Delia Owens, as well as Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley and Chloé Zhao’s Best Picture winner, Nomadland. The actor has also been seen on series like Interrogation, The Expanse, Billions, McMafia, Z: The Beginning of Everything and The Blacklist, among others. Also coming up for him is the Angus MacLachlan-directed drama A Little Prayer with Jane Levy, which bows at Sundance 2023.
Sackler is repped by Mosaic; Bakalova by CAA, Brookside Artist Management, and Insight Management & Production in the UK; and Strathairn by Verve and Ryan Entertainment.
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