Fresh from her eye-catching role opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in indie zombie flick Maggie, not to mention a recurring role in Fox’s Scream Queens, Deadline reports that Abigail Breslin is poised to topline Freak Show as a sort of Queen Bee cheerleader.
Breslin joins Alex Lawther for the feature film, which is to be adapted from James St. James’ high-school novel of the same name. Acting as Trudie Styler’s directorial debut, Freak Show charts the story of Billy Bloom (Lawther), a city kid who faces the timeless struggle of trying to fit in with his new classmates upon moving to a new town with his father. What makes his plight all the more difficult, however, is the fact that the boldly overconfident Billy often turns in for classes dressed as a drag queen, soon setting his sights on the coveted title of Homecoming Queen.
Such a statement of intent ruffles a few feathers at Billy’s school, not least Breslin’s newcomer. She’s joined Styler’s cinematic adaptation as the school’s lead cheerleader, while Bette Midler, AnnaSophia Robb, Ian Nelson and Lorraine Toussaint round out the remainder of the cast list thus far.
Having carved out a name for herself during her time as a producer – Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Moon, Still Alice are just some of the projects – Styler is primed to make her first foray behind the camera for Freak Show. Deadline didn’t disclose an official production start date, though we understand that the drama will be produced by Celine Rattray along with Drew Barrymore, Chris Milly and Ember Truesdell of Flower Films.
