Jake Manley will star opposite Bella Thorne in “Southland,” Variety has learned.
The film centers on a diner employee named Arielle who dreams of a better life outside of her small Florida town. After falling for a young parolee named Dean, she convinces him to return to his criminal ways. With the goal of becoming famous, Arielle and Dean start to promote their law-breaking exploits on social media. Things escalate into robbery, cop chases and murder.
Manley currently appears on the Netflix horror series “The Order” and is part of the ensemble cast of Roland Emmerich’s upcoming World War II epic “Midway.” Later this month, he can be seen in the family film “A Dog’s Journey” with Dennis Quaid and Josh Gad.
The movie is written and directed by Joshua Caldwell. Colin Bates and Michael Jefferson of Lucidity Entertainment are producing alongside Thor Bradwell and Scott Levenson. Garrett Clayton, Katie Leary, Bennett Litwin and Adam Litwin will serve as executive producers. Highland Film Group is handling worldwide sales in Cannes this month. Production will start in September.
Related
At Cannes, Highland will be selling a number of films, including Vaughn Stein’s “Inheritance” starring Lily Collins and Simon Pegg; “Becky” with Lulu Wilson and Pegg; Dimitri Logothetis’ “Jiu Jitsu” toplined by Nicolas Cage; Marc Meyer’s thriller “We Summon the Darkness” starring Alexandra Daddario; “Trauma Center” with Bruce Willis; and Michael Polish’s “Axis Sally” toplined by Al Pacino.
Manley is represented by ICM, Luber Roklin Entertainment and Ambition Talent in Canada.