Natasha Lyonne Producing Survival Thriller ‘Red Sea’ With Saudi Filmmaker Lina Malaika Directing

EXCLUSIVE: Poker Face and Russian Doll star Natasha Lyonne is set to produce survival thriller Red Sea for Saudi filmmaker Lina Malaika.

Heralding from the latter’s NISR Films and Lyonne’s Animal Pictures and Ariadne banners, the film is set against the backdrop of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea and “follows a group of young friends aboard a luxury yacht whose carefree escape spirals into a nightmare after a series of unexpected events leaves them stranded far from shore.”According to the synopsis, “as isolation, fear, and paranoia begin to unravel the group, they discover they are not alone beneath the surface.” Screenplay comes from Heaven Howard and Brooke Schlegel. Start of shoot has yet to be set with the team currently in development, casting and funding mode.“Growing up by the Red Sea, I was always fascinated by its beauty, mythology, and depth. There is something both spiritual and terrifying about it at the same time,” said director Malaika.

She continued: “With Red Sea, we wanted to create a film that feels immersive, cinematic, and emotionally claustrophobic. It is a survival story, but it is also about fear, human instinct, and what happens when paradise becomes a trap.”

Malaika is a New York Film Academy alum whose 2021 short film Moskoon debuted at the Red Sea Film Festival. She has worked on feature documentary One Giant Leap, which chronicles the story of the first Saudi female astronaut, and as an actress is in post-production on Saudi horror They Came for Us.

Lyonne’s Animal Pictures develops and produces films and series and is a producer on the actress’s hit dramas Russian Doll and Poker Face. As we revealed, Lyonne recently launched banner Ariadne with Sean Lennon and Evan Ross. Its debut project is the transhumanism docuseries Vitruvian Scumbag.

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