new movie
Thriller starring Gordon-Levitt as a murderous preacher
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt embodies the cult leader Jim Jones in the new thriller “White Night”. Photo: picture alliance / Henning Kaiser/dpa
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From patrolman in the Batman trilogy to nasty cult leader: Hollywood actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt proves his versatility in the new thriller «White Night».
US actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (40, “Inception”, “The Dark Knight Rises”) will transform into the murderous cult leader Jim Jones in front of the camera.
The US production company Archer Gray announced the cast for the planned thriller «White Night». Jones was behind a mass murder suicide in the jungles of the South American country of Guyana in 1978. More than 900 members of his Peoples Temple sect died after drinking a juice containing cyanide. According to reports from the few survivors, a number of members were violently driven to their deaths.
The thriller is based on the memoir “Seductive Poison” by former Jones supporter Deborah Layton, who is one of the few survivors of the massacre. US actress Chloë Grace Moretz (24, “If I Stay”, “Carrie”) plays the young woman who followed the promises of the charismatic preacher of life in a peaceful community from California to the jungle. Directed by the Norwegian Anne Sewitsky (44, “Happy, Happy”). Filming is slated to begin this spring.
Layton’s “incredible” story should be understood as a warning of the power a charismatic leader can wield, producer Amy Nauiokas told the Hollywood Reporter.
Film plans by the MGM studios about a Jim Jones project became known last November, with Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio (47, “The Revenant”) as a possible leading actor. A shooting start for this film is not known.