Elijah Bynum, who made his directorial debut with Magazine Dreams, has begun shooting his next film, My Darling California, with a stacked cast that includes Oscar nominee Don Cheadle, Oscar winner Jessica Chastain, Chris Evans, Chris Pine, and Oscar winner Mikey Madison.
Set in 1980 Los Angeles and described as “an American noir of ambition, greed and violence, and a love letter to the darker side of California,” the film follows a single crime that weaves together the lives of a fallen news anchor, her cheating televangelist husband, two small-time crooks, an ex-con, and a rising country music idol, whose fates collide in a web of crime, seduction, and deceit.
The film, produced, backed, and sold by Anton, shoots entirely in California, marking Bynum’s return to the state where he made Magazine Dreams. The project is set to receive the second-largest allocation in the latest funding round of the California Film & TV Tax Credit’s independent film category. New financiers joining the project include Just Mercy backer 1Community and Conclave and The Zone of Interest backer Access Entertainment. Anton is handling international sales, with Anton and CAA Media Finance co-representing U.S. and global rights.
The film is produced by David Hinojosa, Alex Coco, and Sébastien Raybaud, alongside Scott Budnick and Ameet Shukla of 1Community and Emily Blavatnik and Danny Cohen of Access Entertainment. Len Blavatnik, owner of Access Entertainment, and Zach Nutman of 2AM serve as executive producers.
Chayse Irvin (BlacKkKlansman) is director of photography, Anthony Gasparro (Materialists) is production designer, and Natasha Newman-Thomas (Euphoria) is costume designer.