EXCLUSIVE: Liam Neeson has scheduled his next vehicle. He’ll star in The Commuter, a suspense-thriller written by Byron Willinger and Phil de Blasi. Studiocanal is financing, and The Picture Company’s Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman will produce with StudioCanal. They all worked with Neeson on the thrillers Non-Stop and Unknown.
In The Commuter, which will shoot in New York in the spring, Neeson will play a businessman on his daily commute home who unwittingly gets caught up in a criminal conspiracy. It threatens not only his life but the lives of those around him. Neeson just wrapped the Martin Scorsese-directed Silence for Paramount.
EXCLUSIVE: Vera Farmiga will star alongside Liam Neeson in The Commuter, the Studiocanal-backed thriller that will be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and will start production this summer. Byron Willinger and Phil de Blasi wrote the script and Lionsgate is distributing in the U.S. The film is being produced by The Picture Company’s Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman.
Farmiga will play a mysterious woman who boards a commuter train and proposes an enticing opportunity to Neeson’s character, one that has dire circumstances if he accepts. The film has Hitchcock-ian elements like North By Northwest and Strangers On A Train. Farmiga, who is coming off The Conjuring 2 and the hit series Bates Motel, previously worked with Collet-Serra on Orphan. The director previously worked with Neeson on Non-Stop and Unknown. The director most recently wrapped The Shallows at Sony.
Collet-Serra and Ombra Films Partner Juan Sola exec produce and Studiocanal’s Ron Halpern is also a producer. Farmiga is repped by CAA, manager Jon Rubinstein and attorney Jodi Peikoff.
Patrick Wilson is coming aboard the Liam Neeson thriller “The Commuter,” joining his “The Conjuring 2” star Vera Farmiga.
Jaume Collet-Serra is directing the film, marking the fourth collaboration between Neeson and Collet-Serra, who teamed up on last year’s “Run All Night,” 2013’s “Nonstop” and 2011’s “Unknown.”
Byron Willinger and Phil de Blasi wrote the script for Studiocanal and the Picture Company. The Picture Company’s Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman are producing. Collet-Serra will also serve as executive producer along with his Ombra Films partner Juan Sola.
Lionsgate bought U.S. rights for “The Commuter” and the “Our Kind of Traitor,” starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, in November at the American Film Market.
“The Commuter” centers on a businessman caught up in a criminal conspiracy during his daily commute home. Wilson will portray a trusted friend of Neeson’s character and Farmiga will play a mysterious woman who boards a commuter train and proposes an enticing opportunity to Neeson’s character.
Farmiga joined “The Commuter” in June.
Wilson stars opposite Michael Keaton in “The Founder.” Collet-Serra, a native of Spain, directed Sony’s “The Shallows,” starring Blake Lively.
