NEW YORK, NY, November 6, 2015- Maven Pictures will produce Trudie Styler’s FREAK SHOW with Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films. Barrymore will executive produce on the film. The film is based on the award-winning cult novel by James St. James that tells the moving, heartwarming, and hilarious story of ‘Billy Bloom’ played by Alex Lawther (“The Imitation Game”), a boldly confident, wildly eccentric teenager, who faces intolerance and persecution at his ultra conservative high school, and decides to fight back by running for the title of homecoming queen. That is the brilliance of St. James’s novel; By centering the action on Billy who desperately wants to fit in as much as any young adult but still doesn’t want to deny his true self, Freak Show delightfully upends the gender stereotypes that so often fuel angst young adult dramas. Billy Bloom is not a stereotype, but instead a fully realized adolescent hero struggling against both a desire for acceptance and restrictive societal gender norms.

Bette Midler is cast as ‘Muv’ Billy’s mother and Anna Sophia Robb (“The Carrie Diaries”, “Bridge to Terabitha”, “Soul Surfer”) will play Billy’s friend and confidant “Blah Blah Blah’. Billy’s rival, head cheerleader and high school queen bee, will be played by Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”, “Scream Queens”). Freak Show will also top line Ian Nelson (“The Hunger Games”), Lorraine Toussaint , Laverne Cox, Larry Pine and Eddie Schweighardt as young Billy Bloom.

Midler has earned three Grammys, four Golden Globes, three Emmys, a Tony Award, and sold 30 million records worldwide in a career that spans more than four decades. She has played film roles in “The Rose,” “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” “Ruthless People,” “Beaches” and “The First Wives Club,” among many others.

Alex Lawther won a newcomer award for his theatre debut at age 16 in London’s West End and moved on to films, starring alongside Asa Butterfield and Sally Hawkins in math Olympiad-themed dramedy “X+Y”. In The Imitation Game, Lawther played the teenage version of Cumberbatch’s brilliant mathematician and puzzle solver, Alan Turing, who eventually cracked the Nazi’s Enigma message encryption code, hastening the end of the Second World War. He won the London Critics Circle Film Award for Young British Performer of the Year in the role.

Trudie Styler will bring a savvy edge style to her directorial debut with Dante Spinotti attached as Director of Photography, and Colleen Atwood is on board as costume designer. Styler has already produced several small terrific films including Dito Montiel’s “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” which introduced Channing Tatum and Shia LaBeouf (in film), as well as executive producing Guy Ritchie’s “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch.” She and Maven Pictures partner Celine Rattray brought Catherine Hardwicke’s “Miss You Already” to Toronto with much success and also executive produced Oscar winning Still Alice this year.

James St. James wrote the book that became the movie “Party Monster” starring Macaulay Culkin as Michael Alig. The adaptation of Freak Show will be based on a script by Beth Rigazio and Patrick J. Clifton. The film also features Charlotte Ubben, Michael Park, Daniel Bellomy, Chris Keogh and Walden Hudson.

Freak Show started principle filming in New York October 26, 2015.

About Maven Pictures

Maven Pictures is a New York-based film development, production and financing company co-founded by Oscar-nominated producer and veteran film executive Celine Rattray and BAFTA-nominated producer, filmmaker, actress and activist Trudie Styler. Styler, a BAFTA-nominated and BIFA-winning producer (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Moon) and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rattray (who won a Golden Globe for The Kids Are All Right) focus on innovative storytelling with premiere talent. Together, they work to produce high quality independent films while taking advantage of cultural resources in New York and London and working with top tier filmmakers.

Maven finances development and provides equity for films across a wide range of budgets and for distribution across all platforms. Maven Pictures produced GIRL MOST LIKELY, – directed by Oscar-nominated duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (AMERICAN SPLENDOR) and starring Kristen Wiig (star of BRIDESMAIDS, the highest grossing R-rated female comedy ever),, Annette Bening, Darren Criss and Matt Dillon. The film premiered In Toronto and was released by Lionsgate Films. Maven also produced FILTH, starring James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, and Jamie Bell, recently released in the UK, and becoming the country’s second highest grossing R-rated film of the year. Maven’s also produced, BLACK NATIVITY is a modernized take on Langston Hughes’ classic musical and stars Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, Tyrese Gibson and Mary J Blige. Fox Searchlight released wide. Maven produced TEN THOUSAND SAINTS, an adaptation of the best-selling novel (NY Times Notable Book of 2011, finalist for LA Times’ Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction) by award winning author Eleanor Henderson. The film was directed by Pulcini and Berman, starring Ethan Hawke, Emile Hirsch, Hailee Steinfeld, and Asa Butterfield. TEN THOUSAND SAINTS premiered at Sundance 2015, and was sold to Screen Media. Maven executive produced the UK film MISS YOU ALREADY, directed by award winning Catherine Hardwicke, written by Morwenna Banks, and starring award winning actresses Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette. Lionsgate will release in the fall after it’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Rattray and Styler also executive produced STILL ALICE, directed by award winning duo Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, based on the novel by Lisa Genova, for which Julianne Moore won an Oscar for Best Actress. Maven is in post on Andrea Arnold’s AMERICAN HONEY, starring Shia Labeouf.

About Studio Mao

Studio Mao is a premiere global content management company founded in 2006 with a strong focus on motion picture production, development and distribution. The company produces feature films, including the critically-acclaimed award winning film Filth by the author of Trainspotting Irvine Welsh in which James Mcavoy won Best Actor awards at the Scottish BAFTA’s, British Independent Film Awards, Empire Awards and London Critics Circle Film Awards. The film’s director Jon S. Baird also won the London Critics Circle Breakthrough British Filmmaker award and the film was nominated on multiple occasions for Best Feature Film. Filth was the highest grossing independent film in England in 2013 and was produced in collaboration with industry leaders Maven Pictures (Trudie Styler, Celine Rattray) and Steel Mill Pictures (Ken Marshall). Studio Mao also collaborated with Maven Pictures on Girl Most Likely starring Kristen Wiig and Darren Criss, and Ten Thousand Saints starring Ethan Hawke, Hailee Steinfeld and Asa Butterfield.

The Studio Mao brand is synonymous with high quality, original and bold content that is distributed to markets around the world. The company is actively involved in developing its proprietary HD content management and video streaming platform “STP™” designed to securely deliver content worldwide and on multiple platforms. Subscribers will be able to view Studio Mao movie releases and content utilizing STP™ technology that will further permit an interactive experience with dynamic and live HD feeds.

The company’s open source mantra is “Leave no creative stone unturned”.

For more information about Studio Mao, please visit www.studiomao.com

Contact:

Steve Kent
asst@studiomao.com
(212) 961-6882