Random Acts of Violence (film)

Random Acts of Violence is an upcoming Canadian slasher horror film based on the 2010 comic of the same name by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. The film is produced and directed by Jay Baruchel, who wrote the screenplay with Jesse Chabot, and stars Jesse Williams, Jordana Brewster, Niamh Wilson, and Baruchel. The film follows Todd Walkley (Williams), a comic book creator whose works are used as inspiration for a string of real-life murders.

The film has been in development since 2011 when Baruchel and Chabot were first hired to adapt the screenplay. Attempts to begin production failed several times in subsequent years; principal photography took place between August 2018 and September 2018.

Random Acts of Violence will have its world premiere in September 2019, at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Plot
A pair of comic book writers begin to notice scary similarities between the character they created and horrific real-life events.

Cast

 * Jesse Williams as Todd Walkley, a comic book writer and the creator of Slasherman.
 * Jordana Brewster as Kathy, Todd's girlfriend.
 * Niamh Wilson as Aurora, Todd's assistant.
 * Jay Baruchel as Ezra, Todd's best friend and the owner of Hard Calibre Comics.

Development
Writing partners Jay Baruchel and Jesse Chabot were hired by Kickstart Comics to write the film adaptation of the one-shot comic Random Acts of Violence in May 2011. Comic co-writer Jimmy Palmiotti praised the hiring, and also said that "having [Baruchel] also star in it would be a super bonus", suggesting him for either of the lead roles. The project was not discussed publicly again until a January 2015 interview, where Baruchel revealed that financing and casting had been completed and that he was attempting to film the project that year. He also said that he "might get to direct that this year as well" and announced various crew members, including editor Jason Eisener, cinematographer Bobby Shore, make-up artist Paul Jones, and composer Matthew Good.

Filming
Three years later, Jesse Williams, Jordana Brewster, and Niamh Wilson were announced to lead the cast. Williams was cast as Todd Walkley, the creator of the fictional comic character Slasherman. Brewster will portray his girlfriend Kathy, Wilson will play his assistant Aurora, and Baruchel was also confirmed to be starring as Todd's best friend Ezra. By August 2018, principal photography had begun in Toronto and was set to run through September 2018.

Post-production
By October 2018, Baruchel was working on editing the film, balancing his time between an editing suite set up in his basement and promotion of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. In a February 2019 interview, Baruchel gave more insight on the film by stating, ‘We’re trying our best to give the world something interesting and unique and legitimately scary. So it goes very hard and hopefully, if we’ve done our jobs, it’ll have something to say about the genre itself. It’s a horror flick that has as much of a brain as a set of fangs to it. I think it should f**k people up, but also leave them thinking about a bunch of sh*t – that’s the goal.’ In a May 2019 interview, Baruchel said "[he is] currently in post-production on the film; hopefully its scary and ruins people's ability to dream normally."

Release
The film will be distributed by Elevation Pictures in Canada.

Marketing
On May 25, 2019, the first teaser trailer debuted at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.