The Hideaway Entertainment To Produce Thriller ‘Escape’ From ‘Rings Of Power’ Creators J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay; James Watkins To Direct

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the creator-EPs behind Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, have set up their 2017 Black List screenplay Escape with The Hideaway Entertainment (Cherry), tapping James Watkins (AMC+’s upcoming The Ipcress File, The Woman in Black) to direct.The action-adventure pic is inspired by the true story of convicts Robert Greenhill and Alexander Pearce, and their sensational journey of survival after escaping from prison, which scandalized the Victorian-era world.

While the story has previously inspired songs, works of fiction and non-fiction, news articles, tall tales, art, illustrations and other printed materials, it has never before been adapted as a large-scale feature film.When the wrongly-accused Greenhill is shipped to the harshest Tasmanian penal colony in the 1820s, he quickly realizes his only chance of survival is to partner with the notorious murderer Pearce and five other hardened criminals in order to escape.

Now on the run in the treacherous wilds, their epic adventure takes increasingly darker and more dangerous turns as Greenhill slowly realizes he may have allied with a force more evil than he suspected.Payne and McKay will produce the film under their 10:40pm Productions banner, with Jonathan Gray, Matthew Rhodes and Kristy Grisham for The Hideaway Entertainment.

The Hideaway’s Ryan Cassells is exec producing. Grisham, who serves as the company’s SVP of Development & Production will oversee the project on their behalf, with CAA Media Finance handling world sales.“We came across this incredible true-life story years ago; it captured our imaginations and has stayed with us ever since,” said Payne and McKay in a joint statement. “We are beyond thrilled to be