Daisy Ridley In Talks To Star In Thriller ‘The Ice Beneath Her’ For STX, ‘American Sniper’ Producer Andrew Lazar & Directors Radio Silence

EXCLUSIVE: Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley is in negotiations to star in psychological crime-thriller The Ice Beneath Her, which has been the subject of a bidding war among Hollywood financiers in recent months.

STX has come out on top for world rights and will finance the project, which was once at New Line but has shaken loose. Andrew Lazar (American Sniper) is producing and filmmaker trio Radio Silence (Ready Or Not) are attached to direct and produce.

With its unreliable narrator, Swedish author Camilla Grebe’s bestselling 2015 novel is similar in tone to Gone Girl and The Girl On The Train. The story revolves around a detective and psychological profiler who work to solve the case after a young woman is found beheaded in the home of a prominent businessman. The investigation quickly evolves into a race against time.

Caitlin Parrish, writer of Berlanti Productions’ Supergirl and The Red Line, has adapted the book. Additional casting discussions are underway for multiple juicy roles.

Drew Simon, Kevin Sauer and Sam Brown are overseeing for STX, which recently announced that it is merging with Indian major Eros International to become Eros STX Global Corp.

In-demand Brit actress Ridley is currently in post-production on big-budget Lionsgate pic Chaos Walking, which is due to be released early next year. 2019 epic Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker was the third-highest-grossing movie in the storied sci-fi franchise.

Filmmaking collective Radio Silence comprises Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett and Chad Villella. The group most recently directed breakout comedy-horror hit Ready Or Not, which made close to $60M global off an estimated $6M budget. They’re also attached the Scream reboot and are well known for cult horror pic V/H/S.

Meanwhile, American Sniper producer Lazar is currently in post on movies including Mel Gibson action pic Waldo and Warner Bros’ drama Clouds.

WME and Keith Fleer handled the screen rights to Grebe’s novel on behalf of The Ahlander Agency.