Pop megastar turned actress Charli xcx, aka Charlotte Emma Aitchison, is set to star in a new horror movie from legendary Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike, and the untitled project has now rounded out its cast.
Variety reports that Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon, Supergirl), Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead, Ballerina), Sho Kasamatsu (Tokyo Vice) and Kiko Mizuhara (Ride or Die) will join Charli in supporting roles.
The first plot details have also been revealed.
Currently known as "Untitled Kyoto," the film will follow "three best friends who meet up in Kyoto to rekindle their lifelong friendships. What is intended to be a carefree girls trip devolves into a nightmare, unfolding when Katie (Charli xcx) becomes possessed by a violent, tortured spirit (Mizuhara) in the Japanese horror tradition."
This marks the latest acting turn for Charli, who appeared in last year’s 100 Nights of Hero and in this year’s The Moment (which she also wrote and produced), as well as The Gallerist. She will also star in the Faces of Death reboot this April.
Charli will produce under her Studio365 banner alongside Good World Productions, Yumiko Aoyagi Productions, and OLM. Alex Peace-Power and Miike’s longtime producing partner Misako Saka is on board as an executive producer. Ross Evans and Yumiko Aoyagi wrote the script, which is inspired from an original idea from Charli and Miike.
“I’m really excited to work with Takashi Miike this year on this film that I’m going to produce, which is crazy to me to go to Japan and shoot with a horror auteur,” Charli told SmartLess in a recent interview. “I’m like, ‘This is insane!'”
Miike has helmed over 50 features across numerous genres, but he is arguably best known for notoriously extreme movies such as Audition (1999) and Ichi the Killer (2001). With this in mind, it's probably safe to assume that his latest horror film will be on the violent side.
"I haven’t been working with the goal of being prolific," the filmmaker said in a recent interview when asked about his career. "That has come from a steady accumulation, one project at a time. Since I’ve created works across various genres, I’m sure different viewers have their own preferences and dislikes. I’ve simply faced each piece head-on, without fear of failure or of betraying expectations. That’s how I intend to continue. I don’t concern myself with building a brand. If I had to sum up my driving force in one word, it would be curiosity."