Reports are coming in that Mel Gibson and Tye Sheridan are in final negotiations to star in BLACK FLIES, a Blacklist thriller penned by Ryan King. Based on the novel of the same name by Shannon Burke and directed by JOHNNY MAD DOG and A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN helmer Jean-Stephane Sauvaire, BLACK FLIES will tell the story of a young paramedic, Ollie Cross (Sheridan), who's busy navigating his first year on the job. After some time on the job, Ollie is partnered with Rutkovsky (Gibson), an experienced medic who thrusts him into the harsh realities of New York’s inner-city streets. Amidst high crime rates, homelessness, and widespread drug use, Ollie finds his perspective on life and death beginning to shift.
Set to produce and finance the thriller is Mad River Pictures alongside Christopher Kopp, Lucan Toh and Babak Anvari, and Anthony Katagas. Sheridan, who recently wrapped his role as Scott Summers/Cyclops for Simon Kinberg's DARK PHOENIX is also expected to produce. Meanwhile, Joe Carnahan's (NARC, THE A-TEAM) BOSS LEVEL is now in post-production, with Gibson set to star as Col. Clive Venton. In BOSS LEVEL, a retired special forces officer is trapped in a never ending time loop on the day of his death.
We'll be sure to update you when more information related to BLACK FLIES becomes available. In the meantime, be on the lookout for THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN, which stars Gibson, Natalie Dormer and Sean Penn for a biographical drama that centers on Professor James Murray, who begins work compiling words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid 19th century, and receives over 10,000 entries from a patient at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, Dr. William Minor.