Paramount Sets 1980s Action Thriller ‘Bella’ With Samara Weaving
EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures is developing the action thriller Bella with Scream VI actress Samara Weaving set to star in the Larysa Kondracki-directed title.
Craig Flores is producing via Bread & Circuses Entertainment and Chad Stahleski is producing through his 87eleven Entertainment. Alex Young and Jason Spitz are executive producing via 87eleven.
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Jason Markarian penned the most recent draft of the script, with Jesse Wigutow handling revisions.
Set against the backdrop of a crime wave that gripped New York City in the ’80s, Bella is a hyperstylized action thriller about a cop’s daughter who, as her father clings to life following an assassination attempt, goes on a rampage to unearth her father’s attacker and weed out deep-rooted corruption in the New York City Police Department.
Flores tells Deadline: “Bella cleverly reinvents the female-led action genre pairing a sexy and unapologetic rock ‘n’ roll edge with the gritty heightened realism of ’80s New York City. Collaborating with Chad Stahelski and 87Eleven, whose talent is singular in bringing unparalleled action films to worldwide audiences, is a dream for me, Larysa, and Samara.”
Flores’ credits include the profitable Paramount genre pic Crawl, which made $92M WW against a $14M budget. He was an EP on Warner Bros.’ near $800M-grossing 300 franchise as well as a co-EP on the near-$227M grossing Immortals.
87eleven had a record franchise-global opening hit in Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 this past weekend, which debuted to $137.5M. The movie made an estimated $5.7M on Monday in the U.S./Canada, raising its domestic running total to $79.5M. The John Wick franchise around the world counts over $732M currently through four movies.
Weaving currently stars in the $139M-grossing Scream VI and can be seen in Searchlight’s upcoming Chevalier on April 21. She also headlined Paramount’s Babylon, played Scarlett in Snake Eyes, starred in Bill & Ted Face the Music and broke out stateside in Searchlight’s pre-pandemic horror hit Ready or Not.
Kondracki has directed episodes on such notable TV series as Better Call Saul, The Americans, The Fix, Power and Power Book IV: Force. Her feature directorial debut was the Rachel Weisz crime drama The Whistleblower.
Weaving is repped by CAA, 111 Media and Johnson Shapiro Slewett. Wigutow is repped by Verve, Kaplan/Perrone, and Sloane Offer. Kondracki is represented by WME, Anonymous Content and Lichter Grossman Nichols. Markarian is with WME, Heroes & Villains and Marks Law Group.
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