Jolie, Hoult, Bernthal to star in thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The next film coming to us from Taylor Sheridan, writer/director of WIND RIVER and writer of HELL OR HIGH WATER and the SICARIO movies, is THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD – a project that has been described as a "gritty survival thriller", a "chase thriller", and a "wilderness thriller". So I think it's safe to say this is going to be a thriller.

A lot of casting news came flooding out in recent hours, revealing that the film is going to star Angelina Jolie, Nicholas Hoult, Jon Bernthal, Tyler Perry, Aidan Gillen, Medina Senghore, Jake Weber, and Finn Little.

Based on a novel by Michael Koryta (you can pick up a copy of it HERE), THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD is about a 

14-year-old boy who witnesses a brutal murder, is issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens while the killers are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him. 

If that synopsis doesn't grab you, here's another one: the movie will be about 

a firefighter (Jolie) who rescues a 10-year-old boy, a witness to a murder, from two stone-cold killers (Hoult is playing one of the bad guys). Now the two find themselves on the run and fighting for survival, trapped between the men and a raging wildfire.

So is the boy 10 or 14? Finn Little is 12, landing in right in between the ages given in those descriptions.

A collaboration between BRON Studios and Film Rites, THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD is being produced by Garrett Basch, Steve Zaillian, and Aaron L. Gilbert. Creative Wealth Media is providing the financing, with Jason Cloth serving as executive producer.

THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD will begin filming in New Mexico next month.

Killers tracking someone through the wilderness in the middle of a wildfire is a great set-up, and Sheridan has assembled an excellent cast to bring the story to the screen.