Simon Pegg Joins Paul Giamatti In Horror Pic ‘Boutique’; Manifest Takes Over Sales — AFM

EXCLUSIVE: BAFTA winner Simon Pegg (Mission: Impossible and Star Trek franchises) has joined two-time Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti in horror pic Boutique.

The film will follows an American tourist (Giamatti) who travels to the eerie English seaside town that inspired the work of his favorite reclusive author (Pegg), only to become entangled with a murderous secret society permeating the whole town.

Manifest Pictures has boarded international sales rights ahead of the American Film Market, taking over sales duties from XYZ. UTA Independent Film Group will rep domestic rights.

Giamatti and Dan Carey will produce through their company Touchy Feely Films, alongside Chris Dodds, Charlie Alderman, and Greg Field for Prospect, and James Harris and Mark Lane for Tea Shop Productions, one of the companies behind horror sensation Obsession. Prospect is financing, and Jacob Jaffke (Maxxxine) serves as executive producer.

Pic marks Jim Gavin’s feature film directorial debut, reuniting him with Touchy Feely, producers of AMC series Lodge 49.

“Boutique taps into that intrigue with a wickedly original exploration of the pull these secretive societies have always had on our imaginations,” said Manifest.“Jim has delivered something distinctly fresh while capturing the thrills of classics from Psycho to Hereditary,” added James Harris from Tea Shop.

“Boutique is dark, hysterical, and utterly twisted. We are honored to help realize Jim Gavin’s gothic fever dream,” Prospect commented.

“We feel lucky to work with Jim again at this moment in his career. He came to us fully formed as a storyteller, with a natural talent for shaping actors’ performances and building unique worlds on screen. As producers on Lodge 49, Paul and I witnessed Jim’s deft hand managing large teams, significant budgets and all the machinery required to bring an ambitious, original piece of work to life,” said Dan Carey.

Giamatti currently stars opposite Julianne Moore in Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, which has some pundits tipping the actor for a third Oscar nomination. Giamatti will next be seen in two-time Oscar-winner Tom McCarthy’s drama, A Statement.

BAFTA winner Pegg is best known for his recurring roles as Benji Dunn in the Mission: Impossible series of films and Scotty in three Star Trek features, as well headlining and co-creating the iconic Cornetto Trilogy of British comedies. Pegg will next heard in season 3 of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power as the voice of the Balrog.

Pegg is repped by Dawn Sedgwick Management.