American actors James Franco (127 Hours, Milk) and Winona Ryder (Black Swan, Girl, Interrupted) are set to start filming The Stare, the debut film a new production company called Waterstone, reports Deadline.
Ryder stars as a troubled playwright struggling with mental health issues as she prepares to launch her newest play. Plagued by dreams and visions that she’s being watched, she begins to unravel, unable to determine whether she’s being manipulated or simply losing her grip on reality.
Franco stars as one of the actors in her play, and is also co-producing the film alongside Vince Jolivette, his partner at RabbitBandini Productions.
The film’s writer and director, Jay Anania, was Franco’s professor at New York University graduate film school, and head of the directing program.
Franco and Anania have teamed up before, most recently on the set of the professor’s 2010 independent film noir, Secrets and Lies, which starred Franco as a drifter returning to New York after years of absence.
The Stare begins filming in New York City on May 6.