Oscar-winner and current nominee Octavia Spencer is set to reteam with her The Help director Tate Taylor for Blumhouse Productions’ twisted thriller, Ma. Production starts this month on the film that will also star Juliette Lewis and Luke Evans. Jason Blum and John Norris are producing.
Plot details are sparse, but Deadline understands Spencer will play a lonely woman who befriends a group of teenagers with torturous consequences for the kids. Also joining the cast are Diana Silvers (Glass), Corey Fogelmanis (Girl Meets World), McKaley Miller (Hart Of Dixie), Dante Brown (Lethal Weapon) and Gianni Paolo (The Mick).
The script is by Scotty Landes (Workaholics). It was brought into Blumhouse and developed by VP Ryan Turek, who will co-produce. Blumhouse has a first-look deal with Universal.
This is a turnabout from Spencer’s most recent role, as night janitor and confidante Zelda Fuller in Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape Of Water. The actress, who won a Supporting Oscar for Taylor’s The Help, is nominated for her Shape role in the same category this year. She’s also up for a BAFTA on February 18. Last year, she received an Oscar nomination for her work in Hidden Figures.
Taylor’s 2011 The Help was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture and winning for Spencer. He last helmed 2016’s BAFTA nominated thriller The Girl On The Train based on the best-selling novel.
Oscar nominee Lewis (Cape Fear) recently appeared in Epix’s Graves and ABC’s Secrets And Lies. Evans (Beauty And The Beast) is currently starring in TNT’s The Alienist and just wrapped Luc Besson’s feature Anna.
Spencer is represented by WME and Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein; Lewis is represented by UTA and Untitled Entertainment; Evans is represented by WME and United Agents; Taylor and Landes are repped by CAA, the latter also by Lev Ginsburg.