Alex Pettyfer, Frank Grillo, Maria Bakalova to Star in Kieron Hawkes Feature ‘Branded’
variety.comK.J. Yossman “Magic Mike” star Alex Pettyfer and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’s” Maria Bakalova are set to star in “Branded.”Tom Hopper (“Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City”) and Frank Grillo (“Kingdom”) will also appear in the film.Kieron Hawkes (“Power”) is set to direct the feature, which is based on New Yorker article “The Brand” by longform journalist David Grann, whose book “Killers of the Flower Moon” has been adapted in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film of the same name.
Alessandro Camon (“The Messenger”) has written the screenplay for “Branded.”“Branded” tells the story of America’s prison gangs, with Pettyfer playing Taylor, a football player incarcerated for murdering a drug dealer who joins a white gang in San Quentin.
Grillo will play the gang’s leader Carter, who sees Taylor as his future replacement. When the authorities try to disband the gang by dispersing its members throughout the prison system, Taylor soon finds himself at the helm of a veritable criminal empire.
But with his wife Lilly (Bakalova) expecting the couple’s first child as the gang’s violence escalates, Taylor starts to question his choices, deliberating whether to give up his life of crime – and with it the status and money – in order to be a better father.The film is currently in pre-production and is set for a fall start date.HanWay Films is repping international sales rights, with the film set to launch sales at Cannes.
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