Potsy Ponciroli Directing Picture Which Commences Photography In July

May 10, 2024 – Stampede Ventures announced today that Ben Foster (Warcraft, The Mechanic), Shailene Woodley (Ferrari, “Big Little Lies”), and Pablo Schreiber (Den of Thieves, First Man, SkyScraper) will join the previously announced Alan Ritchson (“Reacher”, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Fast franchise) in the action thriller, Motor City. Acclaimed director Potsy Ponciroli (Old Henry, Greedy People) will direct the picture. Production begins July 10th in New Jersey and AlUla, Saudi Arabia as part of Stampede Ventures’ ten-picture slate deal with Film AlUla. 

Greg Silverman and Jon Berg will produce for Stampede Ventures, alongside Rohini Singh, Paramdeep Singh, and Manmeet Singh of Astro Lion Pictures and Cliff Roberts and Chad St. John, who also penned the script. Mike Tadross Jr. and Eric Hedayat will executive produce. Black Bear represents international rights with WME Independent co-representing domestic rights with Stampede, and Sacker Entertainment Law overseeing production legal.

Motor City follows John Miller (Ritchson), a Detroit auto-worker whose life and girlfriend (Woodley) are taken away from him when he’s framed by a local gangster (Foster) and sent to prison. Upon his release, Miller unleashes a maelstrom of vengeance upon those who wronged him as he attempts to win his girl back. The Detroit-set film will be characterized by immersive visual storytelling, with stunningly choreographed and stylized action sequences and a gritty rock soundscape from twelve-time Grammy Award-winner and Detroit native Jack White as Musical Director. 

Ben Foster

Doug Coleman (The Revenant, Ford V Ferrari, Red Notice) will shoot 2nd unit and stunt coordinate and Alan’s longtime stunt double, Ryan Tarran (Thor: Ragnarok, Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, See), isonboard as fight choreographer. 

“This movie is somewhere between an opera, a music video, and an action movie. Emotion conveys without language being essential; the actors’ performances are front and center. Potsy has a killer vision for the film: dynamic camera, brilliant music, muscle cars, and an immersive sound design surrounding badass action sequences. Motor City will be a stand-out film; a cinematic and sonic feast that should boldly stand out in the marketplace,” stated Jon Berg, Stampede Ventures’ President of Production.

Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe nominee Shailene Woodley had her big screen

breakthrough in The Descendants. She went on to star in the Divergent series and subsequently appeared in The Spectacular Now (2013), The Fault In Our Stars (2014), Adrift (2018), Ferrari (2023), and HBO’s critically acclaimed Big Little Lies for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Woodley will next star in the television series Three Women based on the best-selling novel by author Lisa Taddeo, as well as in the Amazon film Killer Heat alongside Joseph Gordon Levitt and Richard Madden. Woodley is repped by CAA and Range Media Partners.

Critically acclaimed actor, Ben Foster, has starred in numerous box office hits including Lone Survivor (2013), Hell or High Water (2016), Leave No Trace (2018), Finestkind (2023), and The Mechanic (2011). Foster is repped by Range Media Partners. 

Pablo Schreiber

Pablo Schreiber’s notable film roles include First Man (2018), SkyScraper (2018), and Den of Thieves (2018). He is currently starring in the Paramount+ Original show “Halo”, and previously appeared in the Starz show “American Gods,” and Netflix’s hit show “Orange is the New Black”. Schreiber is repped by WME and Circle of Confusion. 

Potsy Ponciroli’s recently directed Greedy People starring Lily James, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Himesh Patel is set to be released domestically by Lionsgate. He previously directed Old Henry (2021) starring Tim Blake Nelson which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Ponciroli is repped by Verve Talent and Literary Agency and Range Media Partners.

Stampede Ventures’ recently released films include Lionsgate’s Ordinary Angels starring Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson, the Emmy-nominated documentary The Saint of Second Chances, and the young adult feature, Pink Skies Ahead, starring Mary J. Blige and Jessica Barden, acquired by MTV Studios. Their upcoming film releases include the female-driven Space Cadet starring Emma Roberts, Poppy Liu, Gabrielle Union, Tom Hopper, and Sebastián Yatra which will be released on Amazon Prime Worldwide. Film titles currently in production include Anderson .Paak’s directorial debut with the music-inclined K-POPS! and the Emma Thompson thriller, The Fisherwoman, as well as the global television series, The Darkness, directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Lena Olin. Titles in development include the Wattpad YA sensation, Chasing Red. They have over 80 projects throughout various stages of development.

About Stampede Ventures

STAMPEDE VENTURES is a global media company that creates and owns IP across film, television, and digital with an eye toward launching new franchises.

About Astro Lion Pictures

Astro Lion Pictures is a production and finance company founded by veteran entertainment creatives Rohini Singh, Manmeet Singh and Paramdeep Singh. Passionate storytellers, they are focused on reaching global audiences with their slate of diverse films and series. Recently announced was the feature film TOW, directed by Stephanie Laing and starring Rose Byrne, Octavia Spencer, Ariana DeBose, Demi Lovato and Dominic Sessa. Astro Lion Pictures’ subhead Bollywood banner Maurya Entertainment, recently completed the film DETECTIVE SHERDIL, starring internationally acclaimed musician and actor Diljit Dosanjh.

About Black Bear

Black Bear is one of the world’s leading independent studios, focused on producing, financing and distributing premium content for a global audience while offering creators and filmmakers an unparalleled destination for collaboration. Black Bear has produced such commercial and critical films as The Imitation Game, I Care A Lot, Mudbound, and All Is Lost. Black Bear’s slate includes: Nyad, starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, both of whom were recently nominated for Oscars for their roles; Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money starring Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan, Pete Davidson and Shailene Woodley; and Scott Frank’s newest series “Monsieur Spade,” starring Clive Owen. Recent releases include Sydney Sweeney’s horror vehicle, Immaculate from NEON and Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare from Lionsgate, and upcoming is Sing Sing from director Greg Kwedar and starring Oscar Nominee Colman Domingo from A24. 

Black Bear’s international sales and distribution arm, run from its London office, is one of the most selective and successful sales operations in the business. The current slate includes Michael Mann’s Ferrari starring Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, and Shailene Woodley; Sydney Sweeney horror movie, Immaculate; Corin Hardy’s Whistle; Taron Egerton crime thriller, She Rides Shotgun; Olivia Colman and Dev Patel’s twisted romance, Wicker; Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare starring Henry Cavill and Eiza Gonzalez from Lionsgate; Daniel Minahan’s On Swift Horses, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi and Will Poulter; Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs starring Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe; Stephen King’s The Monkey starring Theo James; the upcoming Elon Musk documentary, Musk, from Oscar winning filmmaker Alex Gibney; and Max Minghella’s Shell starring Elizabeth Moss, Kate Hudson, and Kaia Gerber.

About Film AlUla

Film AlUla is The Royal Commission for AlUla’s film agency, established to promote and support international film and TV production in the County of AlUla, located in northwest Saudi Arabia. Its aim is to position AlUla as an international filming destination and develop the services, facilities, and infrastructure in the region to create a film-friendly ecosystem.