Rufus Sewell, Shirley Henderson Set for Comedy The Trouble With Jessica, Parkland Launch

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“Old” star Rufus Sewell and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’s” Shirley Henderson are set to lead dark comedy “The Trouble With Jessica.”

Sewell will also be reunited with his “A Knight’s Tale” co-star Alan Tudyk in the film. Olivia Williams (“The Father”) and Indira Varma (“Obi Wan Kenobi”) round out the cast.

Parkland Pictures are repping “The Trouble With Jessica,” which is directed by Matt Winn (“Bad Mother”), for worldwide sales. Winn co-wrote the film with James Handel (“The Hoarder”).

Filmed on location in London, “The Trouble With Jessica” tells the story of two couples who find themselves needing to relocate a dead body in order to prevent the imminent sale of their house from collapsing.

Impecunious couple Sarah (Henderson) and Tom (Tudyk) host best friends Richard (Sewell) and Beth (Williams) for dinner one evening when old friend Jessica (Varma) invites herself along. A small row erupts after which Jessica storms off and kills herself in the garden. Tom wants to call the police but Sarah stops him, realizing the grisly deed might impede the forthcoming sale of their house. To prevent financial ruin, she wants to convince Richard and Beth to take Jessica’s body back to her flat to be discovered there.

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Sarah Sulick (“The Time of Their Lives”) produces through her Bright Pictures production label alongside Winn’s “Yes Repeat No.” Jeremy Campbell co-produces while John Cairns, Ulf Ek, Georgia Di Mattos Ek, Amy Gardner, Ahsan Mallick and Tom Stewart exec produce.

“I’ve always loved the moral comedies of Chabrol and wanted to make a satire about the contemporary British middle classes with something of that razor sharp bite,” said Winn. “We all know what we’d be prepared to do to protect our loved ones, but how far would we go to protect our lifestyles? It’s a question thankfully most of us are never forced to answer and in this film the results turn very dark, very quickly.”

Andrew Brown, head of sales at Parkland Pictures, said: “‘The Trouble with Jessica’ is a darkly comic moral tale. It has been a real pleasure to be working with such a talented producer (Sarah Sulick) and director (Matt Winn) and Parkland is thrilled to bring a taste of what’s to come with exclusive footage in Cannes.”

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