Ready or Not's cinema poster.
Ready or Not, directed by Matt Bettnelli-Olpin and Tylet Gillett (V/H/S, Southbound), shows games really can be life-or-death under the right (or is it wrong?) circumstances. The film is not only a potential summer sleeper hit but has a stacked deck of well-known and rising Canadian actors, including Atlantic Canadian talent.
When Grace (Samara Weaving, SMILF) marries Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien), the heir to a board game dynasty, she gets far more than she bargained for when she joins her new, rich and eccentric family (Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell, Adam Brody, Kristian Bruun, Melanie Scrofano, Elyse Levesque, Nicky Guadagni) in playing a midnight game of hide-and-seek on her wedding night.
The unlucky newlywed discovers she is “it,” and trapped in a lethal one-sided hunt, with everyone trying to find and kill her. However, Grace isn’t going to go down without a fight, once she trades in her heels for sneakers, picks up a rifle and straps on ammunition. As she fights to stay alive until dawn, Grace uncovers she is part of a ritual the Le Domas family believes needs to be enacted, no matter what the cost.
Atlantic Canada Stars
Local New Brunswick actor John Ralston, who plays Stevens in the film, was born in Chatham and grew up Fredericton and St. Andrews. He is most well-known for his roles in the Family Channel sitcom Life With Derek, Degrassi: The Next Generation and Degrassi: Next Class, Space Channel’s werewolf drama Bitten, and was the lead in the HBO Canada series Living in Your Car.
Mark O’Brien, who plays Alex Le Domas, the new husband of unsuspecting Grace (Samara Weaving) is best known as graffiti artist Des Courtney from the CBC’s Republic of Doyle.
O’Brien’s career has been on the rise over the last six years and will be in Noah Baumbach’s upcoming Netflix film Marriage Story, starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver.
Canadian Acting Veterans
Henry Czerny, who plays the affable, sinister family patriarch Tony Le Domas, is a two-time Gemini Award winner and has starred in multiple films and television series. He is best known for his role in the 1992 CBC docudrama The Boys of Saint Vincent.
Five-time Gemini Award nominee and three-time winner Nicky Guadagni plays the grim-faced Aunt Helene, who turns out to be very proficient with a battle axe. Guadagni has recorded dozens of CBC Radio Dramas and is a Canadian stage legend.
She has performed at the Stratford Third Stage, the Factory Theatre, the National Arts Centre, Tarragon Theatre and the Theatre Passe Muraille throughout her career. Her most well-known television role was in A&E’s A Nero Wolfe Mystery, where she played 13 different roles over the course of the television series.
The Genre Guard
The sole Le Domas daughter Emelie is played by Melanie Scrofano, who plays the titular protagonist of Western horror series Wynonna Earp and had roles in CBC’s Being Erica and The Listener.
The spouses of the two younger Le Domas offspring are played by Kristian Bruun, best known as Donnie Hendrix, the beta-male husband of Alison Hendrix, one of the many clones played by Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black, and Elyse Levesque, who played protagonist Chloe Armstrong in Stargate Universe, and also had roles in Cedar Cove and Orphan Black.
Ready or Not is just one example of Canadian talent gaining further exposure on bigger stages in a broadening entertainment industry. For actors such as Fredericton’s Anna Silk (Lost Girl) and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia’s Josh Cruddas (Polar, Cardinal) and James Tupper (Revenge, Big Little Lies) the sky is the limit for the deep bench of Canadian actors.
Ready Or Not opens in theatres on August 23.
