Nicolas Cage Battles Cannibals After a Nuclear Apocalypse in Action-Thriller PARISH

If you’ve ever wanted to see Nicolas Cage defending a post-apocalyptic fortress with a pack of highly trained attack dogs while bloodthirsty cannibals close in, Parish has you covered.

Nicolas Cage is set to star in the new action-thriller Parish, playing one of the last known survivors 30 years after a nuclear apocalypse has devastated the world. It sounds like exactly the kind of gnarly survival movie that could give Cage plenty of room to unleash his particular brand of intensity.

Concourse Media is launching worldwide pre-sales for the film ahead of the TIFF market, with production currently being lined up to begin this October in Minnesota.

Cage plays Parish, a hardened survivor who has managed to stay alive for three decades alongside his highly trained attack dogs. His survival strategy revolves around one simple rule: nobody gets through the gate.

That system works pretty well until a desperate woman carrying an infant shows up outside his sanctuary. The official description lays out just how badly things spiral from there:

“A hardened survivor who has managed to stay alive with his highly trained attack dogs by following one unbreakable rule: never let anyone through the gate.

“That rule has kept him alive for three decades. But when a desperate woman carrying an infant appears outside his sanctuary, Parish is forced to choose between compassion and survival. His decision exposes the refuge he has spent years building and puts him in the crosshairs of a vicious band of cannibals closing in from the wasteland.

“With his highly equipped compound under siege and his past finally catching up with him, Parish is forced into a brutal fight to protect everything he has left.”

There’s a lot of potential for this thing to get wonderfully brutal. The film comes from writer-director Adam Sigal, who previously directed the Simon Pegg comedy-thriller Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose and produced the 2024 sci-fi thriller Slingshot starring Casey Affleck and Laurence Fishburne.

Joel Shapiro of MagiCity Studios, whose credits include Gunner and Killerman, will produce alongside Steven Tyler Sahlein, who worked on The Devil’s Advocate.

The production has also recruited veteran cinematographer David Tattersall, who shot Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, along with The Green Mile and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. He also has some history with Cage, having served as cinematographer on Con Air and Next.

Shreder, CEO of Concourse Media, explained that the goal is to make Parish feel like a genuine theatrical movie rather than another stripped-down wasteland thriller:

“There’s a scale and pedigree to Parish that immediately separates it from the pack, with all the ingredients of a real theatrical event. Nic Cage is an incredible and fearless actor, with an extraordinary group of filmmakers around him who are all setting out to make a sophisticated survival thriller that’s a cinematic event built for a global audience.”

Shapiro also talked about what makes the story more than a straightforward humans-versus-cannibals bloodbath, and why Cage fits the character they’re building:

“Adam has created a world that is savage, cinematic and incredibly visceral, but what drew us to Parish was the humanity underneath it.

“Nick Cage brings an unpredictability and emotional intensity that makes him perfect for this character. And to be building this world alongside artists like David Tattersall is incredibly exciting. We’re approaching this as a big-screen experience from the ground up.”

The concept isn’t simply about surviving a cannibal siege. Parish has spent 30 years keeping the outside world at a distance, and one act of compassion threatens to destroy the sanctuary that kept him alive.

Throw his mysterious past into the mix, and Cage has a character with plenty more to deal with than shooting wasteland maniacs.

Cage continues to be one of the most entertaining actors to follow because you really don’t know what kind of movie he’ll jump into next. Putting him in a fortified compound with attack dogs and sending an army of post-apocalyptic cannibals his way feels like a pretty good use of his talents.

Source: Deadline