Erik Feig & Patrick Wachsberger Gear Up On College Admissions Thriller ‘Bad Genius’, Julius Onah To Direct — EFM Hot Pic
04.02.2022 - 18:41
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Erik Feig’s Picturestart and Patrick Wachsberger’s Picture Perfect Federation have set Luce and Cloverfield Paradox filmmaker Julius Onah to direct their college admissions thriller Bad Genius, which is gearing up for a summer shoot.
Luce scribe J.C. Lee, whose credits as a writer and co-producer also include series such as How To Get Away With Murder and Looking, has scripted the feature with Onah.
As previously announced, the film is an English-language remake of the hit 2017 Thai film by Nattawut Poonpiriya. The US-set adaptation is being described as a high-octane thriller about a group of entrepreneurial high school seniors who team up to take down a rigged college admissions system. Casting discussions are underway.
Former Lionsgate film chiefs Wachsberger and Feig are producing and will be overseeing sales and finance in coming weeks. International distributors are expected to be a key part of the finance.
Both execs have struck gold producing on indie movies from emerging creatives in the past 12 months. Feig was recently a producer on Sundance buzz pics Cha Cha Real Smooth and Am I Ok?, both of which scored lucrative deals at the festival. Wachsberger was a producer on hit foreign-language adaptation Coda, which yesterday scored three BAFTA nominations.
The duo expressed their excitement to be working with Onah and Lee and described the project to us as “equal parts Squid Games and Euphoria.”
“We were fascinated by the Thai movie when we saw it but it turned out to be quite complicated to secure the rights,” explained Wachsberger. “This is a very timely project and a fresh take on the original movie. It’s a story about family, class, ambition, envy and justice.”
Feig added: “From the U.S. college admissions
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