Ashley Judd To Topline Vertical Thriller ‘Lazareth’ From Writer-Director Alec Tibaldi

EXCLUSIVE: Ashley Judd (She Said) has wrapped production in Oregon on Lazareth, a new thriller written and directed by Alec Tibaldi that she stars in for Vertical, TPC and SSS Entertainment. Others rounding out the cast include Katie Douglas (Ginny & Georgia), Sarah Pidgeon (Tiny Beautiful Things), Asher Angel (Shazam!) and newcomer Edward Balaban.

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The film to be distributed in North America by Vertical follows Lee (Judd), who protects her orphaned nieces, Imogen (Douglas) and Maeve (Pidgeon), from a self-destructing world and raises them in isolation until an outsider (Angel) arrives threatening their peaceful existence.  

Pic is part of Vertical and TPC’s new sustainable corporate financing model geared toward long-term growth and a symmetry of art and commerce that the companies debuted with Spencer Squire’s 2022 horror Abandoned. Vertical comes to the project after collaborating with Shaun Sanghani’s SSS Entertainment on such releases as Gone in the Night starring Winona Ryder and Dermot Mulroney, and Last Survivors starring Alicia Silverstone, Drew Van Acker and Stephen Moyer.

Lazareth is produced by Robert Ogden Barnum and Eric Binns through The Barnum Picture Company, which has partnered with Vertical on such releases as Collide, starring Ryan Phillippe, Kat Graham and Jim Gaffigan; Abandoned, starring Emma Roberts, John Gallagher Jr. and Michael Shannon; and The Tutor, starring Garrett Hedlund, Noah Schnapp and Victoria Justice. 

Exec producers include Vertical’s Peter Jarowey, Rich Goldberg and Kristin Harris, TPC’s David Gendron, Ali Jazayeri, Viviana Zarragoitia and John Bails, and The Syndicate’s Michael Lurie and Jeffrey Giles. Vertical’s Sammi Farber is the film’s associate producer. The Syndicate will rep international sales for Vertical and SSS, presenting the film at Cannes this month.

“We are thrilled to be partnered with Vertical again on a fantastic production,” said producer Barnum. “With Alec’s great script, direction and experience in this genre, coupled with the incomparable Ashley Judd leading the cast to bring his words to life, we fully expect audiences to embrace the film when it is released to market.” 

Added Vertical Partner Jarowey, “Rob Barnum came to us early with Alec’s impressive script and we jumped at the chance to work together again on such an edge-of-your-seat thriller. We are incredibly proud of the progress of our partnerships thus far in creating a streamlined process for fully financing projects.”

Judd recently appeared as herself in Universal’s #MeToo drama She Said, recreating the moment in which she came forward to New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey about the sexual harassment to which she’d been subjected by Harvey Weinstein. The Independent Spirit Award winner who has also been recognized over the course of her career with two noms at both the Emmys and the Golden Globes, has also previously appeared in films including A Dog’s Way Home, the Divergent franchise, Olympus Has Fallen, Frida and Heat, among others. She’s also been seen on series like Berlin Station, Twin Peaks and Missing, to name a few.

Jarowey and SVP of Production & Development Harris negotiated the deal for Lazareth on behalf of Vertical, with Lurie and Giles on behalf of The Syndicate, and Barnum and Carissa Knol of Knol Law on behalf of the filmmakers.

Judd is repped by WME, Anonymous Content and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; Douglas by Innovative Artists, Noble Caplan Abrams and Skrzyniarz & Mallean; Pidgeon by Gersh, Anonymous Content and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; and Angel by UTA, Atlas Artists and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.

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