19/04/2022 - The follow-up to Saint Maud will be a romantic thriller set in the world of bodybuilding; Film4, Lobo Films and Escape Plan Productions are lifting the production weight with A24

British director Rose Glass is following up her horror debut, Saint Maud [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rose Glass
film profile], with Love Lies Bleeding [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a romantic thriller set in the world of bodybuilding. Glass has co-written the script alongside London-based Polish writer-director Weronika Tofilska. The film will shoot in the USA this summer.

The excitement has been pumped up by the news, first disclosed by The Hollywood Reporter, that superstar actress Kristen Stewart will be playing the protective lover of a female bodybuilder. The project is described as a romance fuelled by ego, desire and the American dream, and is centred on the extreme qualities it takes to succeed in the competitive world of bodybuilding.

US firm A24 will be producing alongside Andrea Cornwell for the UK’s Lobo Films and Oliver Kassman for the USA’s Escape Plan Productions. The UK’s Film4 developed the movie alongside the filmmakers and will co-finance it with A24.

The filmmakers are hoping to cast the lead as authentically as possible, with the search currently under way to find someone who looks and can act the part. Is the team about to find the female Arnold Schwarzenegger? The Austrian-born seven-time Mr Olympia winner found success in the documentary Pumping Iron before moving into Hollywood with his blockbuster turn in The Terminator.

Director Glass won the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director at the BIFAs, and Saint Maud earned itself two BAFTA nominations in 2021.