Nicolas Cage’s next movie, Parish, hinges on a single rule: never let anyone through the gate. When a woman shows up outside the compound with an infant, and Cage has to choose between keeping her out and keeping himself alive.
Parish is set 30 years after a nuclear apocalypse, with Cage playing a survivor who’s stayed alive for three decades by trusting no one and letting no one in. His only company is a pack of trained attack dogs.
That one choice — whether to help a desperate woman carrying a baby — exposes the refuge he spent years building and draws a band of cannibals in from the wasteland. What follows is a siege on his compound as his past catches up with him.
Adam Sigal, who made the paranormal comedy Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose, wrote the original script and directs. Sigal worked as a private investigator before moving into film, chasing workers’ comp fraud and running surveillance, and he’s said that background feeds his eye for people under pressure.
Behind the camera is cinematographer David Tattersall, who shot the Star Wars prequels and The Green Mile and worked with Cage decades ago on Con Air. Filming is targeted for October in Minnesota, with Concourse Media running world pre-sales ahead of the TIFF market.
Producer Joel Shapiro says the draw wasn’t the carnage. “Nick Cage brings an unpredictability and emotional intensity that makes him perfect for this character.”
