When you invite darkness into your life, it’s foolish to expect enlightenment. 

the Synopsis

Lincoln Raider is suspected of being responsible for the savage murders of six young women in a small town. The media has dubbed him “The Huntsman” due to the gruesome nature of the crimes in which the victim’s heart is left in a decorative box alongside a poisoned apple. To date, only one body has ever been recovered. Max Mason, an ICU nurse, volunteers to read books to Lincoln who is now in a coma. And despite the objections of Max's sister, Darby Albright, the lead detective assigned to Lincoln's case, Max becomes Lincoln's live-in caregiver after he awakens from his coma. But Max may have an ulterior motive for moving in with Lincoln and his beautiful wife, Jolene an accomplished sculptor and mother to their new baby girl, Rosy—a motive that may lead to the most shocking revelations yet.

Meet the team

DIRECTOR
Kyle Kauwika Harris

  • Kyle is of Hawaiian heritage, an enrolled Choctaw Nation citizen, and a veteran of the United States Navy. He’s won numerous industry accolades, including an Emmy® Award for his feature documentary on the 2016 Standing Rock Sioux Nation Protests, Guardians of the Water. In 2022, Kyle directed his debut theatrical motion picture Out of Exile, an action heist thriller starring Peter Greene and Ryan Merriman, which was acquired by Saban Films and released by Paramount Pictures. Kyle is represented by A3 Artist’s Agency and Mosaic in Los Angeles, CA, and is quickly proving himself a filmmaker of passion and vision.

SCREENWRITER & PRODUCER
Steven Jon Whritner

  • Steven is an Emmy® Award-winning writer and producer who serves as Executive Vice President, Production & Development for the Sam Houston Southwest Film Investment Fund. He’s also served in senior executive level positions at A&E Networks, UPN and Food Network, and has created more than 100 hours of successful television programming. His writing for film and TV has been recognized by today’s leading competitions, including the prestigious Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Steven also attended Rhode Island School of Design and recently served on the Board of Directors of Stowe Story Labs, New England’s premiere institute for emerging screenwriters and creative producers.

PRODUCER
Jacob Snovel

  • Jacob is an award-winning producer and character actor with more than a dozen feature films under his belt, including Out of Exile starring Peter Greene (Pulp Fiction) and distributed by Saban Films & Paramount Pictures, and Agnes starring Molly C. Quinn (We’re the Millers) and distributed by Magnolia Pictures, and which premiered at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in 2021. Jacob apprenticed under director & producer Ron Howard and has spent the last decade building an interesting, character-driven catalog of films. Jacob's feature film company Perm Machine was created to produce elevated content and to push feature films into motion.

PRODUCER
Matthew Moulton

  • A veteran of the United States Army where he worked as a Civil Affairs Team Chief, Matthew was a liaison between Department of Defense, Department of State, U.S. Embassy Staff, host nation governments, and U.S. Special Operations Forces. Since then, he has worked as a script and on-set Technical Advisor, Armorer, Actor Trainer, and Producer for multiple feature film productions, including Infamous starring Bella Thorne (2020), Wild Indian starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kate Bosworth (2021), and Out of Exile starring Peter Greene (2022), in addition to episodic TV productions, such as Investigation Discovery’s Reasonable Doubt. (2019).

CASTING DIRECTOR
Mark Rutman

  • Mark Rutman is an Emmy® nominated Casting Director working out of Los Angeles for over 15 years. Born in the former Soviet Union, and having grown up in the Boston area before establishing himself in LA has provided him a unique and diverse perspective in the casting space. Mark has had the privilege to cast a wide variety of well-known television shows including Hulu’s award-winning mini-series The Dropout starring Amanda Seyfried, Snowfall (FX), Preacher (AMC), Castle Rock (Hulu), Fantasy Island (Fox), and Nashville  ABC/CMT). 

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Frank Malinoski, M.D., Ph.D.

  • Frank has over 30 years of executive experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, in the fields of vaccines, immunology, oncology, infectious disease and other key therapeutic areas. Dr. Malinoski most recently served as the Chief Medical Officer of Eveliqure Biotechnologies GmbH, and Senior Vice President, Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs at Affinivax Inc. Prior to that, Dr. Malinoski held senior positions at Liquidia Technologies and MedImmune. Dr. Malinoski began his career a Clinical Investigator and Chief of Viral Biology at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. He received his B.A. from Colby College, his Ph.D. in microbiology from Rutgers University, and his M.D. from Albany Medical College.

director’s statement

“My goal as a filmmaker is to explore human stories, generally grounded in realism, about people living on the fringes of society, often at odds with their past and/or failed parenthood. Crimes, transgressions and illegal acts figure crucially into these narratives, and within these characters lives, evoking larger themes of redemption, grace, and sacrifice.

My focus with The Huntsman is to capture the intimate human moments where characters, co-existing between compassion and chaos, are my main focus, coupled with elevated moments of violence applied thoughtfully. The evolution of character vulnerability to ruthless competence, will be supported visually with expressive, observant camera techniques creating a suspenseful, lingering tone and atmosphere that summon terrors lurking just beyond the realm of the visible.

There’s a vivid and passionate essence to the crimes explored in the story, and I chose to direct this film specifically for the orchestrated anxiety and engulfing mystery that subsequently surrounds these moments and characters. In addition, my plan is to use an unnerving and powerful score to create a persuasive ambience of menace and moral despair that creates a climate of paranoia and alienation.”—Kyle Kauwika Harris, Director

NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE • FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE •

  • By Matt Grobar
    EXCLUSIVE: DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD

    APRIL 30, 2024—Garret Dillahunt (Where the Crawdads Sing), Elizabeth Mitchell (The Purge: Election Year), Shawn Ashmore (ABC’s The Rookie) and Jessy Schram (Unstoppable) have been tapped to star in The Hunstman, a psychological thriller from director Kyle Kauwika Harris (Out of Exile) that’s going into production in Oklahoma next month.

    An adaptation of Judith Sanders’s novel scripted by Steven Jon Whritner, the film centers on a repressed ICU nurse (Ashmore) volunteering as a reader for a recovering coma patient (Dillahunt), the prime suspect in the savage murders of six young women in a small southwestern town. The suspect’s wife (Mitchell), refusing to believe that her husband is the killer, struggles with the mounting complexities of the investigation. With a dedicated detective (Schram) trying to solve the mystery before more bodies turn up, numerous other suspects take the case on a spiraling journey.

    Pic is fully financed by Frank Malinoski and produced by Plymouth Rock Entertainment’s Whritner (Jury Duty, Repo Men: Stealing for a Living) and SafeHouse Films’ Jacob Ryan Snovel (Agnes, upcoming Reverence), alongside Nicholas Clement (Out of Exile, upcoming Reverence) and Maddison Bullock (Ice: The Movie, upcoming Anywhere). The film is executive produced by Dillahunt, Sanders, and Malinoski.

    Mark Rutman (Snowfall, Nashville) handled casting, with Jesse M. Bookout of Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell serving as production counsel.

    “I’m excited to start shooting this dark and atmospheric story,” Harris said. “We live in a world where outward appearances are oftentimes deceiving, and one of the many intriguing aspects about this project was how the script addresses inner and outer identity, and the reasons why someone would be driven to kill, I’m drawn to material that takes the audience to the narrative edge, and with The Huntsman, we have a film that will shake the viewer up.”

    “From Sanders’ gripping novel comes an amazing script by Whritner, which, in the hands of our visionary director and a brilliantly talented cast, will come a film that should engage, surprise and thrill the minds and hearts of adult audiences,” added EP Malinoski.

    Next to be seen starring in Viggo Mortensen’s Western The Dead Don’t Hurt, Dillahunt’s other recent film credits include Red Right Hand and Where the Crawdads Sing. In recent years, he’s also been seen on shows like Hightown, Dead to Me, and Sprung.

    Previously, Mitchell has appeared in series like The Santa Clauses, Outer Banks, eThe Expanse, Once Upon a Time and Lost, in addition to films like The Purge: Election Year.

    Currently starring on ABC’s beloved procedural The Rookie, Ashmore’s other upcoming projects include the indies Just Breathe and It Feeds.

    Schram stars on Chicago Med and has also been seen on shows like Nashville and Falling Skies. Additionally, she’s appeared in such films as Shot Caller and Unstoppable.

    Known for his Heartland Emmy-winning 2017 documentary I Stand: The Guardians of the Water, which spotlighted the Standing Rock Sioux Nation’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, Harris made his theatrical debut with the 2022 crime thriller Out of Exile, distributed by Saban Films and Paramount Pictures.

    Harris is repped by Independent Artist Group and Mosaic; Dillahunt by IAG and D2 Management; Mitchell by IAG, Link Entertainment, and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum; Ashmore by Gersh, Artistry Management, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; and Schram by Industry Entertainment and Jackoway Austen.

Proof of concept

To test the validity of producing a feature-length motion picture based on Judith Sander’s thrilling novel The Huntsman, SafeHouse Films was tasked with producing a short film (TRT: 16:30) based on Steven Jon Whritner’s screenplay adaptation. The result may be viewed by clicking on the image to the left.
PRODUCER’S NOTE: For the best viewing experience, please screen while wearing headphones or via a sound system equipped with Dolby Atmos.

Based on the novel
The Huntsman
by judith sanders

The Huntsman
By Sanders, Judith
Buy on Amazon

“In Sanders’ disquieting plunge into a murderous mind, young women have been disappearing in an idyllic New Hampshire town, and nobody knows when the serial killer called the Huntsman and his Rohypnol-laced apples will strike again… Sanders teases out the mysteries with an emphasis on suspense rather than serial-killer gore.”

— BookLife Review

“The novel is powered by fleet, sharp-edged scenes, memorable dialogue, and pared-down prose tinged with dark poetry.”

— Publisher’s Weekly

“This shrewd exploration of a killer’s mindset will unnerve and enthrall readers.”

— Kirkus Reviews

NOVELIST JUDITH SANDERS

Judith was born and raised in a rural town in New Jersey. She received a BS in nursing from Graceland University and has served on the front lines in community hospitals and as a civilian nurse at the US Army's lead infectious Disease Institute (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. Judith’s first novel, Crescent Veil, is a reality fiction novel about a hunt for terrorists which Heartland Reviews praised as 'nonstop action based on the real deal by authors who should know what they are presenting’. Judith’s second novel, In His Stead (A Father's War) is an award-winning look at the effects of wartime service on families. Kirkus Reviews called her third novel, Star Finder, ‘A serious, sharp-edged Young Adult escapade.’ The Huntsman is Judith’s fourth novel.

Contact us.

The Huntsman Film, LLC
info@TheHuntsmanFilm.com

Production Counsel:
Franklin Weinrib Rudell + Vassallo LLP
Jesse Bookout, Esq.
jbookout@fwrv.com
(212) 446-9775