Jessica Henwick and Hugo Weaving Join Julia Garner in The Thriller THE ROYAL HOTEL
Jessica Henwick (Iron Fist) and Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings) have joined the cast of a dark thriller titled The Royal Hotel. They join Julia Garner (Ozark), who is set to star in the film, which is being directed by Kitty Green (The Assistant).
The film is inspired by the documentary Hotel Coolgardie, which tells quite an unsettling true story. Garner plays Hannah, who “alongside her best friend Liv (Henwick) goes backpacking in Australia. After running out of money the women take a live-in job in The Royal Hotel, a bar located in a remote mining town in the Australian outback.”
Weaving will play Billy, the bar’s owner, who “doesn’t hesitate to introduce the women to Australia’s hard-core drinking culture along with some of the locals. But when their behavior crosses the line Hannah and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.”
This is a great and talented cast and it sounds like this is going to make for a solid flick. I’d watching anything that these actors are a part of.
Producers Emile Sherman and Iain Canning said in a statement: “Kitty has a truly distinctive cinematic voice, and we’re thrilled to be collaborating with her on this gripping, rollercoaster of a journey into the heart of the Australian outback.”
See-Saw Producer Liz Watts added: “Like we saw with ‘The Assistant,’ ‘The Royal Hotel’ will get under the skin of audiences, bringing a sense of adrenalin and edge of seat compulsion to watch. We are delighted to be adding the incredible Jessica Henwick and Hugo Weaving to our cast alongside the brilliant Julia Garner.”
HanWay Films MD Gabrielle Stewart said: “We are hugely excited to work with See-Saw Films on ‘The Royal Hotel.’ Following in the thematic footsteps of ‘The Assistant,’ this time Kitty Green gets to crank up the tension with a chilling, entertaining, yet all too recognizable tale of young women confronting the toxic masculine environment that threatens their trip of a lifetime. A universal story that is horribly recognizable.”
Here’s the description of the documentary that the movie is based on: “On a dusty highway between Australia's most isolated city and its largest gold pit lies Coolgardie - where the arrival every three months of a new pair of foreign backpackers to work the only bar in town is a keenly anticipated event. Fresh off the plane and lured by the promise of an authentic outback experience, Finnish travelers Lina and Steph find themselves en route to a dot on the map - to pour beers, replenish depleted travel funds, and live amongst the locals. But their working holiday quickly deteriorates into a baptism of fire. Harangued by their new boss, relentlessly pursued by booze-addled patrons, and prey to the madness and malaise of an environment as claustrophobic as it is isolated - the girls soon realize that to meet expectations out here, they'll need to do more than just serve drinks.”
Source: Variety