Bold Films has picked up “Psy-Ops,” an action thriller from Scott Stewart and Gus Krieger.
Stewart, who is directing the vampire action thriller “Priest,” came up with the initial story, then developed it with Krieger, who will write the script.
Stuart Maschwitz, who co-founded visual-effects company the Orphanage with Stewart, is attached to make his directorial debut.
“Psy-Ops” revolves around a covert U.S. military unit of psychological operatives who specialize in exploiting their target’s deepest fears. When on a routine mission to the Amazon Basin, they discover something more terrifying than they could have imagined.
Bold is hoping to combine the elements of such 1980s action flicks as “Predators” and “Aliens” with the psychological tone and visual realism of such 21st century movies as “Black Hawk Down” and the “Bourne” series.
Stewart is producing with Bold’s David Lancaster and Michel Litvak. Gary Michael Walters is exec producing.
Bold, which independently finances and produced its projects, premiered family-oriented 3D thriller “The Hole” this year at the Venice Film Festival and has two projects in development: the thriller “Jack,” with Joseph Ruben attached to direct, and “Opposites Attract,” with Jay Chandrasekhar helming.
Stewart, repped by WME and Anonymous Content, is making his directorial debut with the apocalyptic thriller “Legion,” which Bold produced and Screen Gems opens in January. Screen Gems was so high on what it saw that it hired Stewart to helm “Priest,” which stars Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet and Karl Urban.
The Benderspink-repped Krieger, a relative newcomer, co-wrote “The Killing Room,” an indie drama directed by Jonathan Liebesman.
Maschwitz, repped by Gersh and the Gotham Group, is a veteran of Industrial Light + Magic. He was senior FX supervisor at the Orphanage and oversaw such movies as “Sin City” and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” He was the second-unit director and visual effects supervisor on Frank Miller’s “The Spirit.”
