EXCLUSIVE: Severance star Britt Lower will star alongside David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil), Anna Baryshnikov (Love Lies Bleeding), and Jamie Lee Curtis (The Last Showgirl) in Sender, a new psychological horror film produced by the latter.
Marking the directorial debut of Russell Goldman, the film is based on Return to Sender, his award-winning 2022 short, which he later adapted into a 2023 Black List script. It’s currently in production and follows a woman (Lower) who experiences an e-commerce package delivery scam that becomes so personal and disturbing that she becomes hellbent on discovering the identity of her anonymous sender.
Curtis is producing for Comet Pictures, alongside Molly Hallam and Jake Katofsky. Akshay Shah, Lower, and Goldman are exec producers on the project, with Thomas Grabinski, Eric Baird, Cesar Vega, and Mireia Villanova serving as co-producers. Verve Ventures represents the film for North American sales.
In a statement to Deadline, Curtis said, “I am so proud to be a part of Russell’s first movie, the first of many. The little seed that Comet Pictures planted has now grown into a feature filled with talented artists surrounding a new and exciting filmmaker.”
Lower has drawn rave reviews for her dual roles opposite Adam Scott in Apple’s hit series Severance, a water cooler phenomenon that’s just wrapped up its second season and has been picked up for a third. Recently, she’s also led indies Darkest Miriam and Psycho Therapy, both of which premiered at last year’s Tribeca Festival ahead of an unveiling in theaters. Next, she’s set to lead Netflix’s recently announced limited series I Will Find You based on Harlan Coben’s bestselling novel. She is repped by UTA, Ames/Hashagen Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
In addition to supernatural horror hit Late Night with the Devil, Dastmalchian has recently appeared in Oppenheimer, The Boogeyman, and Dune: Part One. He’ll next be seen starring in Apple TV+’s Murderbot, Dexter: Resurrection, and Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck. He is repped by Atlas Artists and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
Best known for roles in A24’s Love Lies Bleeding and the Apple TV+ series Dickinson, Baryshnikov most recently executive produced and starred in Nastasya Popov’s film Idiotka, which just premiered at SXSW. She is repped by CAA, Brookside Artist Management, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.
Most recently seen starring opposite Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl, in a supporting role that landed her SAG and BAFTA Award nominations, Curtis’ upcoming slate also includes Freakier Friday opposite Lindsay Lohan, James L. Brooks’ comedy Ella McCay, and Amazon’s Kay Scarpetta opposite Nicole Kidman. She is repped by CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Goldman has history with Curtis, as the pair previously teamed to pen the graphic novel Mother Nature for Titan Comics. His short film work including Burn Out and Closing Time has played at over 100 film festivals around the world. He is repped by Verve and Myman Greenspan Fox.
