Sumith Prasad
‘Holdout,’ Elisabeth Moss’ first feature film as a director, revolves around hurricane holdout Julie Mills, who refuses to evacuate from her dream house during the most dangerous storm of the last decade. Julie, who lost her husband two years ago, then confronts the need to defend her home against Mother Nature, a band of looters, and something much more sinister that arrives with the hurricane while the storm worsens.
Moss is helming the Netflix movie based on a screenplay by Colin Bannon. The Emmy-winner made her directorial debut with the third episode of Hulu’s dystopian series ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ a television adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s acclaimed novel of the same name. She then went on to helm the eighth and ninth episodes of the season. Her directorial credits include the first, second, and final episodes of the show’s fifth season as well. Moss also directed the fifth and seventh episodes of Apple TV+’s thriller series ‘Shining Girls,’ in which she portrayed Chicago Sun-Times archivist Kirby Mazrachi/Sharon Leads.
Bannon made his screenwriting and directorial debut with the 2009 romantic comedy ‘Love Conquers Paul,’ starring Brendan Bradley. His screenplays have been featured in The Black List for a record seven times. Earlier this month, Universal Pictures bought Bannon’s short story package ‘Long Lost,’ with him on board to pen the screenplay. Steven Spielberg is attached to the project to produce it through his Amblin Entertainment banner, along with Simon Kinberg, who is set to produce through Genre Pictures.
In addition to directing, Moss will also play the protagonist Julie Mills. The actress might begin shooting the film after the production of the sixth season of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ which is set to start in Toronto, Ontario, in September 2024. She is currently filming Max Minghella’s thriller movie ‘Shell,’ in which she stars alongside Kate Hudson and Kaia Gerber. Moss is also a part of the cast of Hulu’s thriller limited series ‘The Veil,’ written by ‘Peaky Blinders’ fame Steven Knight.
In addition to her roles in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ (June Osborne) and Shining Girls (Kirby), Moss portrayed Gail in Taika Waititi’s ‘Next Goal Wins,’ Alumna in Wes Anderson’s ‘The French Dispatch,’ and Cecilia Kass in the horror mystery ‘The Invisible Man.’
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