EXCLUSIVE: Zoey Luna (The Craft: Legacy) and Aya Cash (The Boys) have wrapped on Slay, a horror dramedy marking the scripted feature directorial debut of Kyra Elise Gardner and the feature writing debut of actor Jimmi Simpson.
Following seven high school seniors whose weekend of backstabbing turns literal, the film also stars Shawnee Smith, Sean Giambrone, Maliina Weismann, Beck Nolan, Reise Alexander, River Alexander, Talia Jackson and Ruby McCollister.
Producers include Gardner, Simpson, Harrison Rothman, Scott Foley and Bradley Sloan.
“I wrote Slay about that moment in adolescence where you realize your friends know how to hurt you better than anyone else,” Simpson told Deadline. “Slay lives right there— but with sick music, jokes and stabbings.”
Said Gardner: “I think horror, at its best, reveals what we can’t say out loud to each other. This movie let me explore that, not with cruelty but with character— through girls trying to be women and boys trying not to be afraid. And it’s always fun for me when fake blood is involved.”
Previously seen in the films Dear Evan Hansen and The Craft: Legacy, as well as FX’s Pose, Luna is repped by Park Noack Agency.
Just recently signing on to star in the coming-of-age dramedy Adult Children, Cash’s other upcoming projects include Rachel Israel’s comedy The Floaters, Michael Russell Gunn’s Cold War drama Reykjavik, and Prime Video’s Vought Rising, where she reprises her role as Stormfront from hit comic book series The Boys. Best known for starring on FX’s You’re the Worst, she’s also recently been seen starring in Max’s The Franchise and Fox’s Welcome to Flatch. She is repped by UTA, Industry Entertainment and Paul Hastings.
Most recently, Gardner wrote, directed and produced Living with Chucky, a doc released by Cinedigm on the Chucky horror franchise.
Currently, Simpson can be seen reprising his role in the USS Callister sequel episode of Black Mirror for Netflix. He’s in production on Season 2 of Apple’s Dark Matter and is repped by CAA, Cognition, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
