Lili Reinhart and Suki Waterhouse Join Horror Package 'Violet' for AFM

Lili Reinhart, Danny Ramirez, Suki Waterhouse, Mark Duplass and Lukas Gage will star in "Violet," a psychosexual horror film that heads to the American Film Market (AFM, the annual Los Angeles film-rights market) as one of its hotter packages. FilmNation Entertainment will launch both domestic and international sales at the market. Production is slated to begin in spring 2027.

Patrick Brice, the genre filmmaker behind the "Creep" franchise, directs. Nick Antosca — fresh off his box office hit "Verity" — wrote the script with Alana B. Lytle, adapting it from Antosca's short story "Ghostfish." SK Global and Generator Entertainment are producing and financing.

What is the story about?

The official synopsis sets the hook: two years after the sudden death of his fiancée Violet (Waterhouse), Sean (Ramirez) has started over with his childhood friend Kate (Reinhart). Then the couple moves into the home Sean once shared with Violet, and he begins receiving unsettling text messages from someone — or something — claiming to be his dead ex.

The premise leans on digital anxiety. As the synopsis puts it: "In an age of constant connectivity— where every text, photo, and digital footprint lingers forever— do exes ever really let you go?"

Who is making it?

The producing roster is long. Kelly McKee and Kenneth Browning produce for Generator Entertainment. Elizabeth Haggard and Dylan Tarason produce for SK Global. Antosca and Alex Hedlund produce for their company Eat the Cat. Executive producers include Jeannine Tang, Chris Collins, Rasool Alizadeh, Gemma Levinson and Jackson Stewart. Emmy nominee Jessica Kelly ("Euphoria," "A Real Pain," "Pieces of a Woman") serves as casting director.

Brice's track record runs deep in genre. Beyond the "Creep" franchise — which he co-wrote with Duplass, who also starred — he directed the Sundance competition film "The Overnight" with Adam Scott, "Corporate Animals" with Demi Moore, and Netflix's "There's Someone Inside Your House." He also co-created, co-wrote and directed the Shudder series "The Creep Tapes."

Antosca arrives with serious commercial momentum. He wrote the Colleen Hoover adaptation "Verity," starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, which earned more than $170 million globally earlier this year. He created the horror anthology "Channel Zero" and Hulu's Emmy and Golden Globe-winning limited series "The Act," and his credits also include "Brand New Cherry Flavor," "A Friend of the Family," Apple TV's recent "Cape Fear" adaptation and the supernatural horror film "Antlers," based on his short story "The Quiet Boy."

What does the cast bring?

Reinhart, the "Riverdale" breakout, most recently starred in Amazon's acclaimed "The Love Hypothesis," with credits including Netflix's "Look Both Ways" and "Hustlers."

Ramirez appears in two global hits, "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Captain America: Brave New World." His upcoming slate includes Todd Haynes' "De Noche" opposite Pedro Pascal, the Russo Brothers' "Avengers: Doomsday" and Joseph Kosinski's "Miami Vice '85."

Waterhouse, known for "Daisy Jones & The Six," "Assassination Nation" and "Love Rosie," recently released her third studio album, "Loveland," via Island Records. Duplass, an Emmy winner for exec producing Netflix's "Wild Wild Country" and a two-time Emmy nominee for acting in "The Morning Show," was recently seen in the hit "Backrooms," with film credits including "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Bombshell." Gage's credits include "Smile 2," Prime Video's "Road House," "People We Meet on Vacation," "Companion," TIFF hit "How to Blow Up a Pipeline" and Netflix's "Voicemails for Isabelle."

The agencies behind the package: Brice (CAA, Untitled, Jackoway Austen Tyerman), Antosca (WME, Ginsburg Daniels Kallis), Reinhart (UTA, Entertainment 360, Peikoff Mahan), Ramirez (CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Entertainment 360, Viewpoint, Hansen Jacobson Teller), Waterhouse (CAA, Independent Talent Group), Duplass (CAA, Hansen Jacobson Teller) and Gage (WME, Goodman Genow Schenkman).

With a proven genre director, a writer coming off a $170 million hit and a marketable ensemble, "Violet" enters AFM as a test of whether horror packages can still command premium pre-sales — buyers will find out when FilmNation opens the book this market cycle.