The Hobbit leading man Richard Armitage is the latest star to join Kerry filmmaker Gerard Barrett’s new film Brain on Fire, with principal photography beginning today (July 13th) in Vancouver.
Continuing his association with Irish directors (having finished filming Pilgrimage with Brendan Muldowney), the English actor is set to play Tom Cahalan a.k.a. Big Man, the father of Chloë Grace Moretz’s lead. The pair are joined by comedian Jenny Slate, and Thomas Mann as Moretz’s boyfriend
Barrett is adapting the screenplay for the film, which follows a rising journalist at the New York Post who mysteriously starts having seizures and hearing voices. As weeks go by, she moves inexplicably from violence to catatonia — but a last-minute intervention by one doctor finally gives her a diagnosis and hope to rebuild her life.
Brain On Fire is produced by Charlize Theron, Beth Kono, and A.J. Dix for Denver & Delilah Films, Rob Merilees and Lindsay Macadam for Foundation Features, and Gabriel and Daniel Hammond for Broad Green Pictures. Barrett is also attached as co-producer. Broad Green act as distributors in the US, with Mister Smith Entertainment selling the international rights after launching the film at the European Film Market last February.
Brain On Fire will be released at an unspecified date in 2016.
Per Richard Armitage on Twitter