AJ Bowen and Barbara Crampton join Halloween comedy, Grow Up, Tony Phillips

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

AJ Bowen (A Horrible Way to Die, You’re Next) and Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond) have signed on for GROW UP, TONY PHILLIPS, the fourth feature film from writer-director Emily Hagins (MY SUCKY TEEN ROMANCE). The pair join previously attached cast members Tony Vespe, Devin Bonnée (both of My Sucky Teen Romance), and Jamie Landau (son of Jon Landau, in his feature film acting debut).

Flick is about a Halloween-loving teenager who doesn’t think childhood passions should have an expiration date.

GROW UP, TONY PHILLIPS is the fourth feature film from young director Emily Hagins, who drew an international spotlight when she set out to make her first feature, the zombie film Pathogen, at only 11 years old. Her most recent film, the vampire comedy My Sucky Teen Romance, enjoyed its world premiere at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival, where it was acquired by Dark Sky Films for American distribution. Producing are Paul Gandersman and Peter Hall, founders of the Austin, Texas-based Arcanum Pictures. Filming is set to begin in late 2012, with principal photography taking place in and around Central Texas.

Here’s a more fleshed-out idea of what the film is about: Grow Up, Tony Phillips may take place on Halloween, but it has nothing to do with horror movies and everything to do with that crystalline moment in time everyone has when they realize life marches forward and they’re the youngest they’ll ever be. It’s a coming-of-age story, but this isn’t an indie drama about a boy becoming a man. It’s a comedy about Tony Phillips, a guy who doesn’t think childhood passions should have an expiration date.