‘Wolf Creek’ Producer Matt Hearn Backs ‘Penny Lane is Dead’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentMatt Hearn, producer of “Wolf Creek,” one of Australia’s biggest genre exports, is backing “Penny Lane is Dead,” the feature debut of Australian writer-director and makeup artist Mia’kate Russell.Set up at Melbourne’s Buffalo Media, headed by André Lima, who will produce “Penny Lane is Dead” with Hearn, “Penny Lane” looks like one of the strongest projects being brought onto the market this week at Frontières, in terms of its behind the camera talent package and financing.“Penny Lane” features among Frontières’ six Forum projects, a program reserved for films in advanced stages of financing.The film has drawn down “significant funding” from Screen Australia’s Producer Offset program, which means 40% of the film finance is secured, Lima told Variety. “With the right market partners in place, we estimate that [a further] 20%-30% of the production budget can be raised from our federal and state film agencies through their production investment funding programs,” Lima added.Prosthetics designer Larry Van Duynhoven (“Furiosa”) and costume designer Nicola Dunn (“Very Important Person”) are attached, among key craft collaborators.“Penny Lane” is set on a warm night as 17-year-old Penny Lane is celebrating getting into college with her longtime girlfriends Toni and Amy.

The night, however, does not turn out as planned. Penny Lane’s jealous and troubled cousin Kat decides a cruel prank is in order and what begins as a thoughtless spiked cupcake game spirals into a night of bloodshed.“‘Penny Lane Is Dead’ is a reverse home invasion thriller led by powerful 17-year-old female protagonists and a good dose of blood and gore.