Canadian science fiction thriller Civil has found its actors. The next feature film, starring Jasmine Mathews, Devon Sawa, Douglas Smith, and Steven Ogg, has begun filming in Northern Ontario. Casting for the first feature film filmmaker Mackenzie Donaldson’s dark thriller has been announced, according to Deadline. Nia, her boyfriend, & their friends, family, & neighbours are seeking refuge in a remote lakeside cabin from the chaos when they are attacked by an anti-government militia led by Sawa.
The story takes place in the near future when the government’s response to climate change has ignited a civil war. Nia and her other cabin mates face death if they choose to stand with the government rather than rebel leader Sawa. The film’s producer, Yas Taalat, has said that in Mathews, “you have a tremendous survivor who brings you on a dramatic journey of love, suffering, and hope.” Matthews has recently been featured in the streaming films The Tomorrow War and The Man From Toronto, and he will soon be seen in the forthcoming George Foreman movie Heart of a Lion.
Sawa, a teen idol of the ’90s and ’00s for his performances in films like Casper and Now and Then and television programmes like Final Destination and as Stan in the eponymous video for an Eminem song, has lately appeared in episodes of Chucky and Hacks. Smith has been seen in Antiviral, Ouija, and The Bye Bye Man, and he will soon be featured in the highly anticipated Don’t Worry Darling, which will premiere this autumn. Ogg has portrayed the protagonist Trevor Philips in Grand Theft Auto V and has a history of playing nasty parts, most notably on The Walking Dead and Westworld.
Although Donaldson has directed a number of short films, her first feature-length picture, Civil, will be released in 2015. She has also worked as a producer on the TNT futuristic thriller Snowpiercer and the critically acclaimed human cloning drama Orphan Black. The authors of Civil are Cheryl Meyer and Anthony Grant. The film will be co-produced by Canadian studio Electric Panda Entertainment (whose previous films include The Loneliest Whale and The Informer) and filmmaker Stephen Donaldson’s own production business, The Donaldson Company. Meyer, Grant, Taalat, Chantal Kemp, David J. Phillips, Gabriel Napora, Ben Lu, Sparshu, Costa Vassos, and Jim Malmgren are producing the film alongside Donaldson.
The movie Civil will come out sometime in 2019.