Pitch Perfect star Anna Kendrick is on board the director’s chair, marking her directorial debut with the true-life thriller The Dating Game.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film, from a Black List script by Ian McDonald, is described as the stranger-than-fiction story of Cheryl Bradshaw, a bachelorette candidate on hit ’70s TV matchmaking show The Dating Game who picked the funny and handsome Bachelor Number One, Rodney Alcala.
“But Bradshaw’s fairy-tale date takes a terrifying turn when the bachelor drops his charming façade to reveal the truth: Alcala is in fact a psychopathic serial killer.” Kendrick is set to direct, produce and star in the upcoming thriller that is based on a true story. Alongside Kendrick, J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules are attached to produce through BoulderLight Pictures and Roy Lee and Miri Yoon via Vertigo Entertainment.
Screenwriter McDonald will executive produce. The film is currently in preproduction with principal photography set for late October. “I’ve loved this script from the moment I read it. And while I was obviously thrilled to be playing the character of Cheryl, I felt so connected to the story, the tone and the themes around gender and intimacy, that when the opportunity came up to direct the film, I jumped at it,” said Kendrick, “It feels meant to be.”
Alcala, who died last July on death row, was convicted of murdering six women and one girl in the 1970s. He became prominently known as the Dating Game Killer because he appeared on the matchmaking show amid his murder spree.
