Movies
Eliza Dushku Gives More ‘Valediction’ Details
Last week some very tiny news broke about a new thriller starring Eliza Dushku entitled Valediction. While the film is already in production, the only details given were of a short plot synopsis that teased a similar fate as What Dream May Come. MTV caught up with Dushku and found out who is directing, starring, and got more information on what the film is about.
““It’s about this young couple and they have a 6-year-old daughter, seemingly in a coma, but [they learn] she’s actually alive and fully living out in her brain, but is just in this locked-in state,” Eliza explains. “So he’s trying to have his daughter wake up from this traumatic experience.”
The film centers around a car accident Josh (Ben) has which leaves his daughter Brooke in a coma. But there’s more to the crash than meets the eye, according to Eliza, who adds that the film is being characterized as a “contemporary psychological thriller.”
Eliza plays Renee, Josh’s former co-worker who he had an affair with. Josh, who left his advertising gig to settle down with his wife (Sarah Roemer) and daughter, is feeling trapped by his life when the film begins — right before Renee reenters into his life, and the accident occurs.
“[Josh] sort of meets up with Renee and wonders what would have happened if he went that route. It really is about his struggle both with these women in his life and then with his daughter who’s been injured,” notes Eliza. “It turns into a really psychological chaos.”
The film is directed by Suri Krishnamma and will co-star Brenda Fricker, Johnny Whitworth and Dennis Haysbert. Eliza said it was a combination of the script, Krishnamma and her castmates that cemented her desire to be in the film.
“It just seemed to me that there weren’t stories that were about young people but were adults that were dealing with these struggles,” she said of her new project, which is slated to hit theaters next year. “It seemed to me like a more sophisticated character that I wanted to sort of take a stab at.”“
Universal has been having a hell of a time getting their Universal Monsters brand back on a better path in the wake of the Dark Universe collapsing, with four movies thus far released in the years since The Mummy attempted to get that interconnected universe off the ground.
First was Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, to date the only post-Mummy hit for the Universal Monsters, followed by The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Renfield, and now Abigail. The latter three films have attempted to bring Dracula back to the screen in fresh ways, but both Demeter and Renfield severely underperformed at the box office. And while Abigail is a far better vampire movie than those two, it’s unfortunately also struggling to turn a profit.
Where does the Universal Monsters brand go from here? The good news is that Universal and Blumhouse have once again enlisted the help of Leigh Whannell for their upcoming Wolf Man reboot, which is howling its way into theaters in January 2025. This is good news, of course, because Whannell’s Invisible Man was the best – and certainly most profitable – of the post-Dark Universe movies that Universal has been able to conjure up. The film ended its worldwide run with $144 million back in 2020, a massive win considering the $7 million budget.
Given the film was such a success, you may wondering why The Invisible Man 2 hasn’t come along in these past four years. But the wait for that sequel may be coming to an end.
Speaking with the Happy Sad Confused podcast this week, The Invisible Man star Elisabeth Moss notes that she feels “very good” about the sequel’s development at this point in time.
“Blumhouse and my production company [Love & Squalor Pictures]… we are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” Moss updates this week. “And I feel very good about it.”
She adds, “We are very much intent on continuing that story.”
At the end of the 2020 movie, Elisabeth Moss’s heroine Cecilia Kass uses her stalker’s high-tech invisibility suit to kill him, now in possession of the technology that ruined her life.
Stay tuned for more on The Invisible Man 2 as we learn it.
[Related] Power Corrupts: Universal Monsters Classic ‘The Invisible Man’ at 90
Dev Patel’s ‘Monkey Man’ Is Now Available to Watch at Home!
Five Underseen Vampire Horror Movies to Stream This Week
‘Stream’ – Horror Movie from the Team Behind ‘Terrifier’ Sets August Theatrical Release
‘The Blair Witch Project’ – Original Stars Release a Statement Asking Lionsgate for Residuals & Recognition
‘Mountain Man’ – Joe Manganiello Will Battle Zombies in Upcoming Horror Movie
