Given the worsening state of the opioid epidemic in America, it’s no surprise that we’ve seen its influence trickle into the film world — from Ben Is Back starring Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges to Timothée Chalamet’s haunting portrait of addiction in Beautiful Boy. Dreamland, directed by Nicholas Jarecki, is the latest dramatic thriller to join the bunch, and the filmmaker’s follow up to Arbitrage. Dreamland has already begun filming in Montreal.
It was just announced that Lily-Rose Depp, Michelle Rodriguez, and Greg Kinnear will join the existing cast of Armie Hammer, Greg Oldman, and Evangeline Lilly. The film sheds light on the opioid crisis from the varying perspectives of each character, woven into three colliding stories. According to Deadline, it looks like Hammer will play a drug trafficker with “a multi-cartel Fentanyl smuggling operation between Canada and the U.S.” Depp, meanwhile, takes on the role of his younger sister, “a brilliant young woman in a desperate hour.” The two will clash with Rodriguez, who plays a DEA supervisor, and Lilly who’s recovering from an OxyContin addiction. The plot thickens.
“The devastating impact of the opioid crisis reaches all corners of society…” Jarecki said. “It’s a testament to the issue’s urgency that such a large group of gifted performers have come together for our film. The opioid epidemic is a worldwide problem which needs our attention now.”
