A horrifying incident two years ago involving a friend of Mirko Grillini gave the writer/producer/actor an idea for a psychological thriller with supernatural elements.
Entitled Lies Never Die, the plot follows Sarah Peterson, a successful homeopath who with her husband Rick returns to the town where she was born to try out a new treatment in an old mental hospital. A terrifying presence begins to infiltrate their house and to influence their lives.
The Italian-born Mirko and his production designer wife Amanda, who operate as Diciotto Productions, attached US directors Lydelle Jackson and Cezil Reed after meeting them at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Negotiations are underway with a US actress to play Sarah. Luke McKenzie (Wentworth, Winners & Losers, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead) will play Rick, a skilled chef who hides a terrible secret.
Steve Mouzakis (Downriver, The Suicide Theory, I, Frankenstein) is cast as a menacing character which Mirko is keeping under wraps. Grillini worked with Mouzakis on The Suicide Theory and immediately offered him the role.
The aim is to shoot in Melbourne in mid-2016. The Backlot Films is distributing in Australia and New Zealand and post will be handled by DDP and The Backlot Post. Robert Lewis Galinsky is the script supervisor.
As for the back story, Grillini explains, “Lies Never Die was born in 2013 because of a series of events that happened within the space of a month. Every year I offer my time and skills to students’ graduation films from either universities or film schools.
“It was a short film, shot in the Grampians, in an amazing location, an abandoned asylum facility and psychiatric hospital. The place is considered to be one of the most haunted in Australia and I immediately had this feeling of wanting to write something set in it.
“A month later a very tragic event happened. Someone we knew well had a shocking turnaround and within a fortnight lost his senses and murdered his brother and brother’s wife in front of their daughter. He then chased the daughter who found refuge at the neighbour’s house until the police showed up and shot him dead.
“It was shocking news for us. Nobody could understand what happened to him and the mystery consequently became the underlying structure of the thriller.
“Lies Never Die is not full-on horror, it’s a blend of supernatural and psychological thriller, an original story I developed because of my passion for Dario Argento and Hitchcock’s films.”
The producers plan to pitch investors next month when they will outline the entire business plan