Company is coming to visit Helen Mirren's character in the upcoming haunted house movie Winchester, as CBS Films announced that Jason Clarke has joined the cast as a psychiatrist who gets a lot more than he bargained for when he's sent to the haunted Winchester mansion to check on Sarah Winchester's (Helen Mirren) mental well-being.

Directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig (Predestination, Daybreakers), Winchester will begin filming early next year in Melbourne, Australia, before coming stateside to shoot in the real-life Winchester Mystery House. For more information, we have the official press release with full details:

Press Release: LOS ANGELES – September 13, 2016 – CBS Films announced today that Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Zero Dark Thirty) is joining Academy Award®-winner Helen Mirren (The Queen, Eye in the Sky) in the supernatural thriller WINCHESTER. Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig (Predestination) are directing the film based on their screenplay with Tom Vaughan. Produced by Blacklab Entertainment’s Tim McGahan and Imagination Design Works’ Brett Tomberlin.

The film follows the story of firearm heiress Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren), who was convinced that she was haunted by the souls killed at the hands of the Winchester repeating rifle. After the sudden deaths of her husband and child, she threw herself into the 24 hour a day, seven days a week construction of an enormous mansion designed to keep the evil spirits at bay. But when skeptical San Francisco psychiatrist Eric Price (Jason Clarke) is dispatched to the estate to evaluate her state of mind, he discovers that her obsession may not be so insane after all. WINCHESTER will take audiences inside the labyrinth like house that is believed to be one of the most haunted places in the world.

“Jason Clarke is an extremely talented actor and we look forward to seeing him face off against Dame Helen Mirren as well as any vengeful spirits that might be lurking about the WINCHESTER house,” commented the Spierigs.

WINCHESTER is being financed by Bullitt Entertainment, Diamond Pictures and Blacklab Entertainment and has secured Screen Australia Production Investment, with assistance from Film Victoria’s Production Incentive Attraction Fund and Production Investment from Screen Queensland. Diamond Pictures is handling international sales. Bullitt’s Benedict Carver, Diamond’s Daniel Diamond and Tobin Armbrust are executive producing. Andy Trapani, Toni Lianos, Brian Gilbert, Marc Shipper and Simon Oakes will also serve as executive producers.

Most recently, Clarke was seen in Baltasar Kormákur’s Everest, starring as New Zealander Rob Hall, opposite Josh Brolin and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film is based on the true story of the tragic 1996 Mount Everest disaster. Clarke was also seen alongside Emilia Clarke and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the reboot of the Terminator franchise, Terminator: Genisys. Clarke will next be seen in Marc Forster’s All I See Is You, starring alongside Blake Lively. The film just Premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Also upcoming is the period drama film, Mudbound, for director, Dee Rees, starring opposite Carey Mulligan and Garrett Hedlund. Clarke has also completed production alongside Rosamund Pike in Cedric Jimenez' HHhH, a WWII-set drama depicting the meteoric rise and fall of Reinhard Heydrich in Nazi Germany. Clarke starred in the sci-fi sequel, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes for director Matt Reeves, and he is also well known for his lead role as “Dan” in the Academy Award nominated® and Golden Globe winning film, Zero Dark Thirty, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Clarke played “George Wilson” in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan and also appeared in John Hillcoat's period drama, Lawless, opposite Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf; and Michael Mann's Public Enemies opposite Johnny Depp. Clarke is currently shooting the high-profiled indie film, Chappaquiddick,
in which he stars as Sen. Ted Kennedy. Clarke first came to America's attention in the critically acclaimed dramatic Showtime series, "Brotherhood” where he played 'Tommy Caffee,' an ambitious Rhode Island politician who navigates the treacherous worlds of local politics and organized crime. He also starred in Shawn Ryan's acclaimed crimedrama, The Chicago Code.

Jason Clarke is represented by WME, attorney Carlos Goodman at Bloom Hergott and managed by Robert Stein Management. The Australian Production will begin in early 2017 in Melboune and later shoot at the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. CBS Films’ latest release, the acclaimed action thriller Hell Or High Water is currently in theaters.

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About CBS Films
CBS Films is a division of CBS Corporation. The division develops, finances, acquires, produces and releases theatrical feature films spanning all genres. For more information, log on to www.cbsfilms.com.

About The Winchester House
For nearly 100 years, the Winchester Mystery House has stood as a testament to ingenuity, persistence of vision and lore that surrounds its namesake, Sarah Winchester (heir to the Winchester Repeating Rifle fortune). A true pioneer who crisscrossed the United States via steam train many times during the waning days of the “wild west,” Sarah Winchester lives on in legend as a grieving widow who continuously built onto her small farm house to appease the spirits of those killed by the guns manufactured by her husband’s firearms company.

Sarah Winchester’s grand mansion is renowned for its many architectural curiosities and paranormal activity (In 2008 TIME magazine cited it among the “Top 10 Haunted Places”). From 1884-1922 construction never ceased as the original farm house grew into the world’s most unusual and labyrinth-mansion (24,000 square feet built at a then astronomical cost of $5 million), featuring: 160 rooms (either frozen in a state of arrested decay or resplendent in Victorian grandeur), 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 9 kitchens, 13 bathrooms, plus 47 stairways and fireplaces.

The estate is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a California Historic State Landmark, a San Jose City Landmark and one of the leading attractions in the Bay Area. Additional information may be found at www.winchestermysteryhouse.com.

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.

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