Don’t call her Mary Poppins.
Maika Monroe has been cast as a killer governess in Victorian Psycho, a psychological horror thriller that Zachary Wigon will direct for production and financing outfit Anton.
Monroe joins Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho, JoJo Rabbit) in the production that previously had Margaret Qualley in the role of the governess.
The project adapts the best-selling book by Virginia Feito, who also wrote the script. Set in 1858, the story centers on a governess named Winifred Notty, hiding her psychopathic tendencies while arriving to work at a remote gothic manor. But as the woman takes care of her charges, staff members begin to inexplicably disappear, and the owners of the estate begin to wonder, too late mind you, if their new governess is serving up a spoonful of sugar with a little arsenic on the side.
Dan Kagan is producing the feature, marking it the third time, after the Neon breakout Longlegs and IFC’s Azrael, the two have worked together. Sébastien Raybaud (Greenland: Migration, Greenland, The Night House) of Anton and Wigon are also producing in association with Anonymous Content.
Nick Shumaker, Bard Dorros and Virginia Feito will executive produce.
“Maika’s intense screen presence has resonated with me over and over again throughout her history of complex performances,” said Wigon in a statement. “I’m absolutely thrilled for her to bring her unique style of psychological portraiture to the fascinatingly bizarre Winifred Notty.”
Anton is fully financing the film and is repping international rights. U.S. rights are co-represented by Anton, UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance. Production is set to begin in August of this year.
Monroe has emerged to become one of the defining horror queens of the last two decades, building a resume of acclaimed and creepy films. She last starred opposite Nicolas Cage in last year’s hit Longlegs, one of the most successful horror hits of the last decade. Last fall, she landed the lead role as the twisted nanny in 20th Century Studios’ remake of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. As a change of pace, before going to shoot Victorian Psycho, Monroe will shoot Reminders of Him, Universal’s adaptation of the best-selling novel by Colleen Hoover that is a story of motherhood and redemption.
Monroe is repped by Entertainment 360, WME, and FelkerToczek.