Woody Norman Leads British Urban Horror Thriller ‘Skag & Bone’ With Malachi Kirby and Tuppence Middleton
Woody Norman is heading back into horror with Skag & Bone, a British urban supernatural thriller that will also star Malachi Kirby, Tuppence Middleton, Conrad Khan and Kola Bokinni.
According to Variety, UTA Independent Film Group has boarded the project to package the film and arrange financing while representing North American rights. Julien Loeffler and James Kermack will produce through Featuristic Films.
Conor Boru will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with longtime collaborator Ed Hartland. The project marks the pair’s second feature together following the horror comedy When the Screaming Starts, which premiered at FrightFest.
Described by its producers as “Top Boy meets Talk to Me,” Skag & Bone combines a youth-driven crime thriller with supernatural horror, placing its story within a British housing estate where gang violence and an unexplained threat begin closing in on its teenage protagonist.
Norman will star as Younger, a 16-year-old who has been rehoused with his mother, Maria, on the troubled Stonemore Estate. Middleton will play Maria, whose debilitating stroke leaves her unable to work and forces Younger into the roles of both provider and protector.
As Younger attempts to navigate life on the estate alongside his cousin Caleb, played by Khan, he attracts the attention of local drug lord Anton, played by Bokinni. Anton offers the teenager money, protection and a potential way out of Stonemore.
Kirby plays an enigmatic local preacher who presents Younger with another possible path.
The situation becomes increasingly dangerous as a gang war spreads across the estate and residents begin disappearing. Behind the disappearances is something beyond the criminal violence already surrounding Younger: an entity known as the Skag & Bone Man.
The supernatural presence stalks the estate’s tower blocks, feeding on the fear, desperation and secrets of the people living there. With criminal forces tightening their grip and an entity that seemingly no one else is prepared to confront, Younger must protect his mother while trying to survive long enough to escape Stonemore.
“Skag & Bone is a deeply human coming-of-age story trapped inside a relentless urban nightmare,” Boru said in a statement. “At its heart is a boy being forced to grow up too quickly in a world that has abandoned him.”
Norman received BAFTA and Critics Choice Award nominations for his performance opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon. His subsequent genre credits include Cobweb, while more recent projects include Netflix’s The Electric State and Paul Greengrass’ upcoming The Uprising alongside Andrew Garfield.
Kirby won a BAFTA Television Award for his performance as Darcus Howe in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe: Mangrove and currently stars opposite Stephen Graham in Steven Knight’s A Thousand Blows. Middleton’s credits include Netflix’s Sense8, David Fincher’s Mank and the Downton Abbey film franchise.
Khan earned BAFTA and British Independent Film Award nominations for County Lines and later appeared as Duke Shelby in the final season of Peaky Blinders. Bokinni is best known for playing AFC Richmond captain Isaac McAdoo in Ted Lasso, with additional credits including Black Mirror, The Split and Top Boy.
For Featuristic Films, Skag & Bone follows projects including underwater survival thriller Breathe Deep and crime drama Salvable.
“Conor and Ed have created a world that feels culturally specific, emotionally authentic and internationally accessible,” Loeffler and Kermack said. The producers added that the film will introduce a new supernatural mythology while combining it with the social and emotional pressures facing its central character.
With UTA now aboard, Skag & Bone is moving toward production as the team continues assembling financing. A production start date and release plans have not yet been announced.
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