Phoebe Dynevor Joins Zac Efron In Celebrity Thriller ‘Famous’ From Black Bear And A24

EXCLUSIVE: Phoebe Dynevor is set to join Zac Efron in director Jody Hill’s latest feature film, Famous, a provocative Los Angeles-set thriller that explores the dark side of celebrity.

In Famous, Zac Efron (The Iron Claw, The Greatest Showman) will star in dual roles, playing both overzealous fan, Lance Dunkquist, and Hollywood heartthrob, James Jansen. The film is based on the acclaimed novel by bestselling author Blake Crouch and is adapted for the screen by Chad Hodge, who also adapted Crouch’s Wayward Pines trilogy into a series.

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Lance Dunkquist has one asset that’s about to change his life – he has the face of a movie star. And not just any movie star – Lance is the spitting image of a Hollywood icon, James Jansen. Lance is about to travel to Los Angeles to make his dream come true. Lance is going to be famous, no matter what it takes…

A24 recently secured the domestic distribution rights to the film, reuniting with Efron after last year’s The Iron Claw, which grossed $45M worldwide and earned Efron some of the best reviews of his career for his emotional turn as wrestler, Kevin Von Erich. WME Independent and CAA Media Finance brokered the sale. Black Bear is handling international sales.

Famous is being produced by Sam Esmail and Chad Hamilton for Esmail Corp. and Michael Sagol for Caviar. Executive producers include Nick Krishnamurthy for Esmail Corp and Allison Hironaka for Caviar.

Dynevor rose to fame on Netflix’s hit series Bridgerton, where she played Daphne Basset for two seasons, the first season remaining one of the most viewed on the streamer with 113.3M global views. Dynevor is coming off the best reviews of her career for her role in Netflix’s thriller, Fair Play, which premiered at Sundance 2023 was quickly sold in a highly competitive sale to Netflix. The film earned her a BAFTA nomination in the EE Rising Star category. She can next be seen in Inheritance which is being released in 2025.

Dynevor is represented by WME, United Agents and Luber Roklin Entertainment.

Black Bear is launching sales on two new projects at TIFF: Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau and Anna Faris’s comedy Spa Weekend, from the Bad Moms team of Suzanne Todd, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore; and Academy Award winner Daniel Roher’s thriller Tuner, starring Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman.

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