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Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow are set to star in James Ashcroft’s thriller The Rule Of Jenny Pen, based on the short story by New Zealand author Owen Marshall, that will shoot later this year. Charades handles international sales, while CAA Media Finance handles domestic rights.

Set in an aged care facility where Rush plays a conceited court judge who suffers from a near-fatal stroke and is placed in convalescence. Rush refuses to communicate with his roommate or cooperate with the staff. Lithgow plays an aging psychopath who indulges in a sadistic game known as “The Rule of Jenny Pen.”

It is New Zealand-based Maori filmmaker Ashcroft’s second feature following his debut Coming Home In The Dark that premiered in Sundance in 2021 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Netflix.

Ashcroft reunites with producer Catherine Fitzgerald and writer Eli Kent. The New Zealand Film Commission helped develop the script. Rialto Distribution and Vertigo Releasing are releasing in Australia and New Zealand.

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