Guy Danella has been named the new president of film at XYZ Films, tasked with heading up theatrical production and acquisition at the genre specialist.
Danella’s production credits include the Ke Huy Quan actioner Love Hurts and Tommy Wirkola’s Violent Night, starring David Harbour, both Universal Pictures releases. He will kick off his XYZ slate with The Trip, an adaptation of Wirkola’s 2021 Norwegian thriller Onde Dager, which XYZ financed.
The film follows a dysfunctional couple who head to a remote cabin, ostensibly to try and rescue their marriage. But both have secret plans to kill the other. Before they can do anything, unexpected visitors arrive, putting them both in greater danger. Jorma Taccone is directing the remake, which stars Juliette Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Jason Segel, and Samara Weaving. The film is currently in post-production.
“XYZ has continually broken ground across all genres with filmmakers across the globe and have made some of my favorite films over the last decade plus,” Danella said in a statement. “I am excited to have the opportunity to push the XYZ brand even further, cementing it as a destination for filmmakers to do their best work.”
Calling Danella “a friend and collaborator for over a decade,” XYZ Films said his “taste and keen eye for talent in the genre space make him a perfect fit to further elevate our production slate.”
Danella was a partner at Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8 and worked on titles including Robert Egger’s Nosferatu and Robert Rodriguez’s Hypnotic. Before that, he was SVP of Production at Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films — where he worked on many of the company’s Marvel projects, including X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants — and was EVP of production for Gold Circle Entertainment, the company behind the Pitch Perfect franchise.
XYZ’s latest feature, the action thriller Havoc, directed by Gareth Evans and starring Tom Hardy and Forrest Whitaker, premiered on Netflix on April 25. The company’s upcoming slate includes the Babak Anvari-directed thriller Hallow Road, starring Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys; exorcism thriller The Ritual with Al Pacino and Dan Stevens; and Miley Cyrus’ musical/visual album Something Beautiful.
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