EXCLUSIVE: James Badge Dale (13 Hours), Abigail Cowen (The Ritual) and Edouard Philipponnat (Napoleon) have been unveiled for the cast of of psychological thriller The Guide as production gets underway in Syracuse, New York.
It is the latest picture from husband-and-wife team Inon and Natalie Shampanier, who previously made waves with 2019 mental health coming-of-age tale Paper Spiders. Inon Shampanier directs from a script by co-written with Natalie Shampanier, who also rounds out the cast.
Cowen will play a young woman who enters a psilocybin mushroom retreat in an effort to heal past traumas, surrendering herself to the care of a psychedelic therapy guide (Badge Dale). As the guide’s motives come under suspicion, the past bleeds into the present and the session unravels into a psychedelic nightmare.
“This psychedelic therapy thriller is designed to be a visceral inward journey, and I am thrilled to go on this journey with the incredibly talented James Badge Dale, Abigail Cowen and Edouard Philipponnat,” said Inon Shampanier.
The film is produced by Anne Clements (Undercard, The Kill Room) in coproduction with Colleen Comer (Diario). Jake Casey (Hallowarrior) of The Dazey Phase is associate producing, and Molle DeBartolo (Pizza Movie) is on board as line producer.