The singer will star alongside Barbie Ferreira and Dacre Montgomery in a remake of cult 70s horror Faces of Death
This past weekend, Charli XCX heralded the end of her Crash album era with an explosive main stage performance at Coachella. “R.I.P. main pop girl,” she wrote on Instagram afterwards, “I buried her alive”. Alas, the pop girl era may be over for now, but a brand new one is set to take its place – that of the movie star.
Back in March, The Hollywood Reporter announced that cult 70s horror film Faces of Death was getting a 21st-century reboot, and Charli XCX has just been added to the cast for her feature film debut. She’ll star alongside ex-Euphoria alum Barbie Ferreira and Stranger Things’ Dacre Montgomery in the film which has reportedly begun shooting in New Orleans.
The 1978 original was a mockumentary style “mondo” film where fictional pathologist Francis B. Gröss presents a number of shocking and gruesome ways to die. The film was received poorly by critics for its graphic scenes, but garnered a cult following and grossed over $35 million on a $450,000 budget.
The filmmaking duo Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei will pen the modern-day remake, with Goldhaber set to direct. In a joint statement to the press Goldhaber and Mazzei said that “Faces of Death was one of the first viral video tapes and we are so lucky to be able to use it as a jumping-off point for this exploration of cycles of violence and the way they perpetuate themselves online.”
The pair have previously collaborated on projects together, such as the 2018 Netflix film CAM. Directed by Goldhaber, the psychological horror was written by Mazzei and centred on her previous experiences as an online camgirl. And this year, Goldhaber’s climate crisis film How To Blow Up a Pipeline was released to critical acclaim, with Mazzei appearing on the credits as a producer. All things considered, it looks like Miss XCX is in good hands.
The singer isn’t a complete stranger to the big screen, though. She’s made soundtrack contributions to films as varied as The Fault in Our Stars, The Hunger Games, The Angry Birds Movie, and looks set to continue this streak on the upcoming A24 film Mother Mary. Although Faces of Death will be Charli’s first starring role, she’s previously made a cameo appearance in HBO’s ill-fated Gossip Girl reboot, performing her song “Lightning” in a New York nightclub.
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