Ashley Benson, Jake Lacy, Justin Long & Ron Perlman To Topline Comedic Thriller ‘Stranglehold’ From Clark Duke, Yale Productions
EXCLUSIVE: Actor-turned filmmaker Clark Duke (Arkansas) has wrapped production on Stranglehold, a new comedic thriller in the vein of the Coen Brothers’s oeuvre for Yale Productions. Cast for the pic includes Ashley Benson (Wilderness), Emmy nominee Jake Lacy (Apples Never Fall), Justin Long (Barbarian) and Golden Globe winner Ron Perlman (The Instigators).
Written by Chandler Duke, Billington Garrett and Clark Duke, the film is billed as a Southern-fried siege, with shades of Dog Day Afternoon and Die Hard, which centers on Bailey (Benson), an exotic dancer with big dreams. She and her Army vet husband Tim (Lacy) are fed up with their lives of barely getting by in small-town Arkansas, so they decide to rob the strip club that employs her.
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Producers include Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman and Michael Day of Yale Productions, along with Clark Duke. Exec producers are Rabbits Black’s Lawrence Minicone, Ronnie Exley, Jeremy Ross, and Sean Krajewski. Additional executive producers include Will Hirschfeld, Edmund Lowell, Aden Darmody, Michael Becker, Jeffrey Tussi, Michael J. Rothstein, Nick Donnermeyer, Andy Rich, David Nazar, Jason Kringstein, Scott Levenson, and Brian S. Unger. Jourdan Henderson co-produced, with Carol and Joseph Tufaro serving as co-EPs.
In a statement on the project, producers Levine and Beckerman told Deadline, “Clark Duke is a phenomenal talent, we are thrilled to be working with him, along with this fantastic cast. Stranglehold is a singular film– it is equal parts action-packed, horrifying, and hilarious — from a singular filmmaking voice.”
Stated Duke, “I am thrilled to be making my follow-up to Arkansas with such an amazing cast. Stranglehold is a continuation of many themes I explored in Arkansas, very much a movie about where we are right now, and I cannot wait for people to see it.”
Best known for starring on Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars, Benson was most recently seen starring opposite Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Jenna Coleman in Prime Video’s thriller miniseries Wilderness. Recently, she also starred opposite John Travolta, Kevin Dillon, and Stephen Dorff in Nicholas Maggio’s action thriller Mob Land. Up next, she’ll be seen starring opposite Alfie Allen, Anthony Carrigan and Brett Gelman in the psychological thriller McVeigh, which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Festival.
Emmy-nominated for his work on The White Lotus Season 1, Lacy can most recently be seen in Apples Never Fall, Peacock’s limited series based on Liane Moriarty’s bestselling novel that debuted at No. 5 on Nielsen’s streaming charts. Most recently, he exec produced and starred in A Mosquito in the Ear, an upcoming adoption dramedy based on the Italian graphic novel Una Zanzara nell’Orecchio.
Recently, Long has been seen starring in Disney+’s series Goosebumps, based on the R.L. Stine beloved book series, and the hit 20th Century Studios horror pic Barbarian opposite Bill Skarsg?rd and Georgina Campbell. Other recent film credits include The Christmas Break, It’s a Wonderful Knife, Dear David, and Christmas with the Campbells.
Next to be seen starring alongside Matt Damon, Casey Affleck and more in Doug Liman’s Apple heist pic The Instigators, out in theaters August 2 and on streaming August 9, Perlman’s recent credits include Amazon’s Emmy-nominated reboot of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Peacock’s Poker Face, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, and the acclaimed BBC spy thriller The Capture.
Duke is coming off his feature directorial debut with Arkansas, a crime thriller about the Dixie Mafia, which he also co-wrote. Based on the novel by John Brandon, the film stars Clark Duke, Liam Hemsworth, John Malkovich, Vince Vaughn, Michael Kenneth Williams and Vivica A. Fox. As an actor, he’s best known for turns in comedies like the Hot Tub Time Machine and Kick-Ass films, Sex Drive and Bad Moms. On television, his credits include The Office, Two and a Half Men, I’m Dying Up Here and more.
Benson is repped by Untitled Entertainment, Independent Artist Group, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Lacy by Beth Rosner Management, UTA, and Schreck Rose Dapello; Long by Independent Artist Group and Yorn, Levine, Barnes; Perlman by Gersh and Link Entertainment; Clark Duke by CAA, Mosaic, and Myman Greenspan Fox; and Chandler Duke by Authentic Talent and Literary Management and Myman Greenspan Fox.
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