Sometimes creativity comes from the most unexpected of collaborations, and a new example of this is Running Wild – a drama that is about to commence shooting with Sharon Stone newly signed on to star. The production is among the first for ESX Entertainment, which is a partnership between actor and producer Ali Afshar (The Wrong Side Of Right), and oil magnate Forrest Lucas, of Lucas Oil.
The female-led story sees the widowed Stella Davis work with convicts to rehabilitate a herd of wild horses, and save her ranch. The morality tale will see Stella battle bigotry and corruption, and will feature Sharon Stone in the role of Meredith – essentially the villain of the piece. Directed by frequent Afshar collaborator Alex Ranarivelo (the Born To Race video franchise), with a script by veteran TV actress and first-time writer Christina Moore and Brian Rudnick (Not Quite An Angel), Running Wild is, for all intents and purposes, hoping to lay the foundation for future ESX Entertainment productions.
There has been no announcement yet as to who will play the role of Stella, which brings us to an important point to note. While the number of female-led film projects does seem to be increasing – albeit very slowly – it is vital that audiences seize the opportunity to demand greater diversity among their lead actresses. Concessions to the concept of equality that see the majority of female lead roles in film played by white women is no kind of equality at all. This is never more important than in a movie that will clearly feature its female lead in a male dominated environment – as Stella works to save her homestead.
With regard to Sharon Stone, Running Wild constitutes a further step in what has become something of a career resurgence for the award-winning actress – having recently featured in films such as Lovelace, and John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo. Hopefully, her villainous role here will be more of a return to Basic Instinct form, than Catwoman, but we will have to wait until 2016 to find out.
