Jonathan LaPaglia & Luke Hemsworth To Star In THE RECKONING

Jonathan LaPaglia and Luke Hemsworth will star in the crime thriller THE RECKONING, written and to be directed by John V. Soto (NEEDLE, CRUSH), it was announced today by Robert Beaumont, President of Lightning Entertainment who is set to handle International sales rights to the film.

THE RECKONING will start principal photography on April 29th on location in Australia. Deidre Kitcher (NEEDLE, CRUSH) is producing. Robert Lundberg, Greg Coote, David Calvert-Jones, Roger Savill and Kim Savill will executive produce the film.

The story revolves around a detective who discovers footage at a murder scene, shot by two teenagers, that provides clues to the identity of a killer. The teens have since gone missing, and as the detective retraces their journey, he soon uncovers a trail of deceit and murder that leads all the way back to him.

Kitcher says that the thriller is “best described as MEMENTO meets KALIFORNIA.”

A Filmscope Entertainment production, the film is co-financed by ScreenWest, Fulcrum and private investors.

Australian born Jonathan LaPaglia is the younger brother of Anthony LaPaglia. He got his first break in 1996, when he joined the cast of TV show New York Undercover. He recently returned to Australia to star as Hector, in the TV adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’ novel The Slap produced for ABC TV and to play the title character of real life crime boss Anthony “Rooster” Perish in Channel Nine’s Underbelly: Badness. From 1998 until 2001 he played the role of Lt. Frank B. Parker on UPN’s science fiction series Seven Days. Afterwards, he played Detective Kevin Debreno, on The District from 2001–2004. LaPaglia has also guest starred in numerous series including The Sopranos, NCIS, Cold Case and Castle. LaPaglia will play the lead role of “Detective Robbie Green” in THE RECKONING.

The brother of Chris and Liam Hemsworth, Luke is the Australian actor who has appeared in a number of Australian TV series including Blue Heelers, Last Man Standing, All Saints, and Satisfaction. In 2012, he starred in the 6-part miniseries Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms as Gregory “Shadow” Campbell which aired on Network 10. He will be playing the role of “Detective Jason Pearson” in THE RECKONING.

John V. Soto is the Writer/Director whose past films include the supernatural thrillers NEEDLE (2011) and CRUSH (2009). NEEDLE stars Ben Mendelsohn (KILLING THEM SOFTLY), Nathaniel Buzolic (Vampire Diaries) and Travis Fimmel (THE EXPERIMENT). The film was released in North America by Lionsgate and won numerous awards at various film festivals around the world. Soto’s previous genre film, CRUSH, was selected for the Shanghai Film Festival in 2009 and released by Phase 4 Films in North America.

Lightning’s current film slate includes: FREEZER, the action thriller starring Dylan McDermott and Peter Facinelli; HEALING, Craig Monahan’s new feature film starring Hugo Weaving; the Australian adventure thriller THE JUNGLE directed by Andrew Traucki and SCORNED, the revenge thriller starring Anna Lynne McCord and Billy Zane. The lineup also includes the acclaimed documentary HOW TO MAKE MONEY SELLING DRUGS; the comedy THE HOT FLASHES starring Brooke Shields, Daryl Hannah, Virginia Madsen, Camryn Manheim and Wanda Sykes; the Russian animated 3D film KIKORIKI: TEAM INVINCIBLE from blockbuster producer Timur Bekmambetov; the star-studded comedy STRUCK BY LIGHTNING starring Glee’s Chris Colfer and Rebel Wilson; action film DEAD DROP with Luke Goss, Cole Hauser and Nestor Carbonell; the family film HEAVEN’S DOOR starring Charisma Carpenter and Joanna Cassidy; the Liam Hemsworth starrer LOVE AND HONOR and WHOLE LOTTA SOLE starring Brendan Fraser and directed by Oscar winner Terry George.