Close bonds with family are often difficult to maintain, especially if blood relatives rope you into their heinous crimes. In Violent Ends, an upcoming Southern revenge thriller from director John-Michael Powell (Dear White People, Thunderbolt in Mine Eye, The Send-Off), Billy Magnussen (No Time to Die, Into the Woods, Game Night) and Alexandra Shipp (Barbie, X-Men: Apocalypse, Anyone But You), reluctantly encounter a legacy of violence and broken bonds.
Violent Ends, hailing from Midnight Road Entertainment, recently wrapped production in Northwest Arkansas. According to Deadline‘s exclusive report, the story centers on two star-crossed lovers (Magnussen & Shipp) making a life for themselves in the Ozark Mountains. In Violent Ends, “Lucas Frost (Magnussen) is an honest man brought up in a crime family whose only legacy is violence. As Lucas tries to make his own life with his fiancée, Emma (Shipp), he is suddenly pulled back into the family business he so despises when his cousin, Eli, perpetrates an armed robbery on a local scrap yard and an innocent life is caught in the crossfire,” says Deadline‘s description.
James Badge Dale (The Departed, World War Z, 13 Hours), Nick Stahl (SIn City, The Man Without a Face), Kate Burton (Dumb Money, Big Trouble in Little China, Max Payne), and Academy Award winner Ray McKinnon (Mud, Deadwood, Rectify) also star as primary cast members.
Violent Ends is one of Magnussen’s many film projects currently in the works. He played Logan Ash in 2021’s Bon film, No Time to Die, and voiced The Joker for the Spotify podcast Harley Quinn & The Joker: Sound Mind, starring Christina Ricci as Dr. Harleen Quinzel. He recently wrapped his part for Doug Liman’s Roadhouse remake, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton, an ex-UFC middleweight fighter turned bouncer. After starring in Disney’s live-action retelling of Aladdin, Magnussen plays Pleakley in the studio’s live-action adaptation of Lio & Stitch, which is currently in production.
Meanwhile, Shipp recently appeared in Greta Gerwig’s box-office-breaking comedy Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Stereotypical Barbie and Ken, respectively. Shipp also stars in Anyone But You, a new romantic comedy starring Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) and Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria), hitting theaters on December 22.
Violent Ends could allow Magnussen and Shipp to flex their drama-acting muscles, as being pulled into a life of crime brings a unique set of hardships. What do you think of the plot for Violent Ends? Do you believe Magnussen and Shipp’s characters will make it through the ordeal with their relationship intact? Let us know in the comments below.