Marcus Anthony Thomas, who completed a directing mentorship on “House of the Dragon,” has started production on his directorial feature debut.
Now shooting in London, psychological thriller “Cast Me!” will be led by rising star Iniki Mariano in her debut feature role, with Samuel Adewunmi (“The Last Tree”), Stella Gonet (“Spencer”), Dean-Charles Chapman (“1917,” “Game of Thrones”) and Clare Holman (“Inspector Morse,” “Lewis”) rounding out the principal cast. The film is being produced by Jordi Morera for 2020Films.
Written and directed by Thomas, “Cast Me!” follows Aanya, a young actor who believes she has landed the role of a lifetime after an audition with a famous actor-turned-first-time director. But when the studio overturns the casting decision, her search for answers spirals into obsession, blurring the line between ambition, performance and reality.
Thomas was selected for Warner Bros. Discovery’s full-time, 16-month directing mentorship programme, where he shadowed directors on the first season of HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” including showrunner Miguel Sapochnik. “Cast Me!” marks his move into feature filmmaking following a body of short-form work that has screened and won awards at BAFTA- and Oscar-qualifying festivals globally.
“I’m exceptionally grateful to have had the opportunities to witness the process of so many directors working at the highest possible level and to marry that observation with my own exploration of who I am as a storyteller, it really feels like the perfect time to be directing my debut feature,” said Thomas.
“‘Cast Me!’ explores the psychological cost of pursuing one’s dreams in the modern age, a core idea that transcends disciplines into universality. So much so, that we have managed to attract an exceptional cast and crew who all really believe in this story. The energy on set is exciting and I can’t wait for an audience to experience the end result!”
“Cast Me!” marks the first feature from Morera’s 2020Films banner to go into production. Morera has produced more than 30 short films across fiction and animation, including “Do Not Feed the Pigeons,” which won the BAFTA for Best British Short Animation in 2022.
“Marcus and I have been making films together since 2019, and I’ve seen first-hand the distinctive voice and ambition he brings to his work,” said Morera. “Given how challenging the landscape for independent filmmaking has become, we made the decision to take the leap and find a way to get ‘Cast Me!’ made. It feels like the natural next step in that journey and is an important milestone for 2020Films as the first feature from our slate to enter production. I’m incredibly proud of what we’re building together, and of the incredible team we have both in front of and behind the camera.”
Behind the camera, the creative team includes co-production designers Freddie Burrows (“The Thursday Murder Club,” “The Crown,” “Crime 101”) and Eve Finnie; cinematographer Adam Singodia; casting director Xanthe Spencer-Davidson (“Steal,” “Dragonfly”); production manager Ewelina Dziedzic; first assistant director Daniel Pachalski; costume designer Haden Holme; hair and makeup designer Tillie Robinson Smith; composer Oliver Wegmüller; producer Srimon Jeevanantham; stunt coordinator Ermar Alexander; VFX supervisor Lee Watson; sound mixer Domantas Jakubauskas; and intimacy coordinator Borbála Anna Veszelák and script supervisor Sofia Ciocan.
Thomas also co-hosts the filmmaking podcast The Directors’ Take with fellow writer-director Oz Arshad, exploring the craft and career pathways of film and television directors. His most recent short, the Disney UK and NFTS-backed sci-fi “Space Plug,” which also starred Mariano, premiered at the BFI London Film Festival.
'Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner Faces the Heist of the Century in New Thriller Series Trailer
Sophie Turner is an ordinary office worker caught up in the crime of the century in the new trailer for Steal. The Prime Video TV series will deal with the aftermath of a devastating heist, as an ordinary woman gets entangled with both the thieves and British intelligence. All six episodes of Steal will premiere on Prime Video on January 21, 2026.
As the trailer opens, office drone Zara (Turner) is working for Lochmill Capital, a pension fund investment company in the heart of London; the only thing dangerous about the job is that she might get bored to death. That all changes when a coterie of armed robbers burst in; disguised in high-tech prosthetics to cloak their true identities, they demand that Zara and best pal Luke (Archie Madekwe) transfer four million pounds into their account. Despite their objections over stealing millions from innocent people, they comply. As the thieves get away, Zara and Luke's troubles are only beginning. DCI Rhys (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), a cop with a gambling problem, is nosing around Zara's life, the thieves are still on the loose, and MI5, Britain's national intelligence service, is entangled with the whole mess. Zara and Luke had better get to the bottom of this quickly, or they'll end up taking the fall...
Who Are the Stars of 'Steal'?
Sophie Turner rocketed to fame as Sansa Stark in HBO's blockbuster fantasy series Game of Thrones in 2011. She subsequently starred as Jean Grey in two X-Men films, and was featured in the film Do Revenge and the TV series The Staircase. Last year, she played a notorious British jewel thief in the miniseries Joan, and starred in the psychological thriller Trust. Next up, she'll reunite with Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harington in the historical horror film The Dreadful, and play the iconic video game heroine Lara Croft in Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Tomb Raider TV series. Madekwe broke out on the AppleTV series See, and has starred in the films Gran Turismo, Saltburn, and Lurker. Fortune-Lloyd made his screen debut in Wolf Hall, and has subsequently appeared in the TV series The Queen's Gambit, Bodies, and The Great; last year, he starred as legendary Beatles manager Brian Epstein in the biopic Midas Man.
Steal was created and written by Sotiris Nikias (Cafe 404). It is executive produced by Greg Brenman (Peaky Blinders) and Rebecca de Souza (The Confessions of Frannie Langton), produced by Nuala O’Leary (Who Is Erin Carter?), and directed by Sam Miller (I May Destroy You) and Hettie MacDonald (Normal People).
All six episodes of Steal will premiere on Prime Video on January 21, 2026. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
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