Marc Bernardin, a television writer/producer (Star Trek: Picard) who has also written multiple comic books and hosts the Fatman Beyond podcast with Kevin Smith, has teamed up with writer/producer/actress Tiffany Smith (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) to create a new anthology called Deepest, Darkest, which will “weave together stories of horror, suspense, dark comedy, and edgy science fiction” – and they have assembled quite an impressive cast for the project. That cast includes Smith herself, as well as Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka), Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass), Phil LaMarr (Pulp Fiction), Raymond Lee (Top Gun: Maverick), Caitlin Bassett (Quantum Leap), Sujata Day (Definition Please), and Kevin Avery (The Great North).
Deepest, Darkest will consist of eight segments that are set to be directed by Bernardin, LaToya Morgan (The Walking Dead), Ubah Mohamed (The Handmaid’s Tale), Lamont Magee (Black Lightning), Deric A. Hughes and Benjamin Raab (Warehouse 13), Day, and Avery. Here’s the pitch: Have you ever had a secret? One so big, so awful, so horrifically extreme that you had no choice but to keep it to yourself? Something that if anyone else knew that revelation would shift your world on its axis? What if there was someone whose job it was to listen to those secrets — because she could never remember them? What would you pay for absolution?
Each story in the film will revolve around that most human of impulses: the keeping of secrets. Our central character is Tara, a survivor of a devastating accident who now suffers from short-term memory loss — and who makes ends meet by hiring herself out as sort of a freelance confessionist. Over the course of these eight chapters, we’ll examine that part of the human condition we keep closest to the vest. Guilt. Damage. Pain. And how through the telling of these stories we might exorcise that pain. Oh, and Tara will find herself in mortal danger. A lot.
Rachel Walker, Carrie Finn, and Kyle Smithers are producing the film, which has M3GAN screenwriter Akeela Cooper and Late Night with the Devil star David Dastmalchian on board as executive producers. The budget for the film is currently being raised on Kickstarter, with seven days left to go in the campaign. As of this writing, $136,668 has been raised of the $250,000 goal.
Rosario Dawson told Deadline, “I’m a big fan of… well, I guess I shouldn’t tell you which project I’m working on but all of the writers and directors [on Deepest, Darkest] are amazing, so getting a chance to work with them was an opportunity that I didn’t want to miss.“
Does Deepest, Darkest sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this anthology project by leaving a comment below.