David Jonsson and Cooper Hoffman, who are both starring in Lionsgate’s Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk, are in talks to reunite for The Chaperones, a drama that A24 has boarded.
Plan B and Icki Eneo Arlo, the Robert Pattinson-fronted banner, are producing the feature that joined the project with filming due to begin later this fall in locations in Ohio and New Mexico.
The project has generated some buzz in the indie film sphere as it has India Donaldson directing. The filmmaker made her feature debut with Good One, a drama that screened at the Cannes and Sundance film festivals and earned her an Indie Spirit Award nomination for best first screenplay and National Board of Review Award for best directorial debut.
Written by Sebastian Black, the script sees a drug dealer and his two slacker buddies hired to transport a troubled teen across the country.
Cooper is one of the “chaperones,” a young man who is aggressive and reckless. Jonsson is Cooper’s partner, a reluctant participant in the chaperoning business.
Adam Wyatt Tate will executive produce.
A BAFTA Rising Star Award winner, Jonsson is the British actor who appeared in acclaimed BBC show Industry and the indie movie Rye Lane. He gained Hollywood’s attention with his scene-stealing work in Alien: Romulus.
Hoffman, the son of Philip Seymour Hoffman, starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza and appeared as part of the ensemble of rising actors in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night. He is coming off the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Poetic License, the directorial debut of Maude Apatow.
The two actors are currently on the big-screen with Long Walk, directed by Franis Lawrence. Hoffman plays the revenge-minded Ray Garraty while Jonsson is Peter McVries, a young man who wants to make the world a better place. The two become friends on the harrowing life-or-death walk in the Lionsgate movie, which adapts the early King story and that has generated strong critical reviews. On the press tour for the movie, the two actors noted how they have grown close during the making of the movie.
Jonsson is repped by CAA, United Agents, and Granderson Des Rochers while Hoffman is repped by CAA.
Donaldson and Black are both repped by CAA, RiseManagement, and Jackoway Austen.
