Zachary Wigon: Last News

Amy Nicholson Rebecca (Margaret Qualley), a mysterious, mercurial careerist, enters Zachary Wigon’s “Sanctuary” with a determined knock on the door of an expensive hotel suite. The room — make that the entire 40-plus story hotel, and the 111 other hotels in the luxe Porterfield chain — belongs to Hal Porterfield (Christopher Abbott), the founder’s son, a self-loathing lump in pleated khakis who is in line to become the successor of a billion dollar company. “Presumptive successor,” Rebecca says. “Successor,” Hal rebuts, with middling conviction. Hal’s ascension to power hinges on Rebecca — at least, so she claims — and his quavering insistence that he can do the job on his own doesn’t convince her (or us) otherwise. Unlike Hal, Rebecca was raised in poverty. (She didn’t even see a dentist until she turned 19.) What clout does she believe she holds? The film has the confidence and generosity to allow the audience to ask its own questions before it makes its first (of many) giddily upending reveals. In essence, screenwriter Micah Bloomberg has ushered the audience into his lair, placed us atop a pile of lush rugs, and now pulls them out from under us one after the other.

EXCLUSIVE: A24 has pre-bought domestic rights to buzzy horror package Victorian Psycho, which will star Margaret Qualley (The Substance) in the lead role alongside Thomasin Mckenzie (Leave No Trace). 

EXCLUSIVE: Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho) is set to star alongside Margaret Qualley in Victorian Psycho, the new psychological horror thriller reteaming Qualley with Zachary Wigon, who helmed her acclaimed Neon dominatrix thriller Sanctuary.

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off acclaimed genre pic The Substance, Margaret Qualley has been set to star in psychological horror-thriller Victorian Psycho, which Anton is launching ahead of next week’s American Film Market.

EXCLUSIVE: Two time Emmy-nominated actor Margaret Qualley has signed with CAA for representation.

Sophia Scorziello editor SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Sanctuary,” in theaters now. At first glance, Zachary Wigon’s new film “Sanctuary” might seem simple — it was shot in 18 days in a 1,200 square foot room with a two-person cast, after all. But within those four walls lies a complex and wildly entertaining tale full of sex, humor, dominion and desire. The dark comedy-thriller tells the story of Rebecca, a dominatrix played by Margaret Qualley, and the complicated power dynamic she has with her client, Hal (Christopher Abbott), who is the new heir of his father’s lucrative hotel business. Because of the confidence she’s brought Hal through her sex work, Rebecca believes she’s entitled to part of his fortune. Hal disagrees.

Matt Johnson’s film BlackBerry about the rise and fall of the world’s first smartphone passed $1.7 million its second week out with an estimated three-day gross of $525k in 595 theaters.

As Sanctuary, Zachary Wigon’s twisted tale of a dominatrix and her wealthy client, opens in NY and LA, David Lancaster of producer Rumble Films recalls a speedy 18-day shoot on a custom-made set in Brownsville, Brooklyn in late summer of 2021. It was Covid, so not the easiest time for indie financing.

EXCLUSIVE: Isabelle Huppert (Elle) and Finn Wittrock (Luckiest Girl Alive) have closed deals to star in Free Radicals, an English-language home invasion thriller based on the same-name short story originally published in The New Yorker by Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro.

Sophia Scorziello editor The official trailer has been released for Zachary Wigon’s dark thriller “Sanctuary,” starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott. The film follows a dominatrix named Rebecca (Qualley) and her rich client Hal (Abbott) as disaster unfolds over the course of a single night in a hotel room. The film first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022 and will open in theaters in the U.S. on May 25. In “Sancutary,” Abbott plays the son of luxe hotel chain owner who is the successor of the hotel and the rest of his father’s billion-dollar enterprise. Rebecca sees the opportunity to cash in on Hal’s soon-to-be fortune.

Neon, has bought U.S. rights to “Sanctuary,” Zachary Wigon’s much-buzzed-about thriller starring Margaret Qualley as a dominatrix who becomes entangled with a wealthy client, played by Christopher Abbott. The movie world premiered at Toronto, where it earned strong reviews (it currently holds a 93% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes). The acquisition of “Sanctuary” underscores Neon’s ambition to scale up its Super label with higher-profile titles. The company beat out three other distribution banners that bid for the movie, according to a source close to the production.

A person hires a dominatrix for the same reason they subscribe to organized religion: to give themselves over to a higher power. In Zachary Wigon’s terrific two-hander “Sanctuary,” he invests the dynamic between a roleplaying sex worker and her longest-term client with all the devotional, frustrated intensity of an implacable deity and the quavering mortal who labors to appease her.

Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott are premiering their new thriller at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott are the leads of the Zachary Wigon film Sanctuary set to premiere on September 11 at the Toronto Film Festival. Ahead of the film’s release, Deadline has an exclusive first look where the main characters are seen engaging in a “battle of wills.” Watch the clip below!

Director: Aitch Alberto

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCharades has unveiled a sexy first pic of Margaret Qualley playing a dominatrix in Zachary Wigon (“The Heart Machine”)’s buzzy film “Sanctuary.” The “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” actor stars in the film opposite Christopher Abbott.Set over the course of one night in a single hotel room, “Sanctuary” tells the story of Rebecca and her wealthy client, Hal. About to inherit his late father’s position and fortune, Hal tries to end their relationship, but when his attempt to cut ties backfires, disaster ensues.

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures and Working Title Films have set Demi Moore and Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood‘s Margaret Qualley to star in The Substance, with Coralie Fargeat (Revenge) directing her script. She is also producing alongside Working Title partners Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan.

After earning her first solo SAG Award nomination this morning for her turn in Netflix’s Maid, Margaret Qualley spoke with Deadline about her experience with the series, as well as upcoming roles in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Victorian drama Poor Things, Claire Denis’ The Stars at Noon and Zachary Wigon’s thriller Sanctuary, and the status of the film Fred & Ginger from director Jonathan Entwistle, in which she’s set to play Ginger Rogers opposite Jamie Bell’s Fred Astaire.