Phylicia Rashad will star in Alone, an upcoming psychological thriller short from writer-director Garrett Patten, who co-wrote the film with Tiziano Tucci and has now wrapped principal photography in Brooklyn. The two time Tony winner joins a cast that includes A Quiet Place’s Millicent Simmonds, Oscar winner Troy Kotsur, and Emmy nominee Nyle DiMarco, with James Broderick and Cameron Sault rounding things out. Most of the cast is deaf, a detail that shapes the story as much as it shapes the casting.
At the center of it is Simmonds’ Samantha, a deaf woman living alone who’s given an advanced humanoid robot meant to simplify her life. The twist comes as the machine starts absorbing more than her routines, picking up on her emotions and history too, and what begins as convenience curdles into something far more unsettling.
Patten and Tucci produced alongside DFA’s Brenda Linkous and Austin Lantero for Range Media Partners, with William Lowery and David Keinath executive producing. Orlando Herrera shot the film. Now in post-production, Alone is reportedly being eyed as a potential feature, with the filmmakers hoping to bring the same cast back if it moves forward.
Patten said the themes hit close to home right now, AI, isolation, trust, and how much of ourselves we hand over to technology, and described the project as one he’s especially proud of, both for the cast he got to work with and the questions the story ends up asking about what companionship really means.