KJ Smith Black and Olivia Applegate linked to thriller ‘Rot’

Exclusive: KJ Smith Black (Sistas(And Olivia Applegate)Love and death) is attached to star in the female-led psychological thriller rotmarking Cat Del Re’s directorial debut.

Plot details are still under wraps, but the film is described as a “darkly comic descent into self-confrontation and rebirth,” exploring “the ways in which the body remembers what the mind tries to forget.”

Cat Del Re produces with Jessy Greer under their We’re There Films banner. The project is currently in the financing phase with additional casting talks underway.

The creative team will include Emmy Award-winning cinematographer, Academy Award-winning student photographer Andressa Cordero, and Artios nominee Jane Flowers (Daisy Jones and the Six), three-time Emmy Award winner Rick Hromadka (West wing), and visual effects artists at Dexter Studios (Peaky Blinders).

“I read a lot of scripts every year, but this one was so unique, I knew I had to be a part of it,” said Flowers, the casting director. “It is meaningful, quirky, funny, surreal and important. Smart actors will demand to play these roles.”

Del Rey has previously worked in dozens of short films as an actress, writer, and director.