‘Station Eleven’ Star Prince Amponsah to Head Kit & Arran’s Satirical Horror ‘How Dare You,’ Boarded by B Good Picture Company (EXCLUSIVE)
Noted Canadian actor Prince Amponsah (“Station Eleven”) has been cast in the film’s central role of “King Baby” director duo Kit & Arran’s satirical horror chiller “How Dare You” as the U.K.’s London-based B Good Picture Company has boarded as a co-production partner.
Producer Madeleine Davis (“With Love and a Major Organ”) of Vancouver-based Common Knowledge serves as lead producer, having developed the project at the 2024 IFFR Pro Rotterdam Lab. She will present “How Dare You” at the opening pitch event of the four-day Frontières Market, produced as part of Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival.
Davis said the producers aims to start shooting in Canada in Spring 2026. She is in negotiations with a Canadian distributor and is looking for co-production partners, in particular from Ontario and Europe, and for a sales agent.
“How Dare You” tells the story of Prince (Amponsah), who grew up in a children’s home after sustaining serious injuries in a fire that killed his family. As an adult, he buys a country home to share with his queer friends, but ends up having to save them from normality when they are possessed by the ghosts of the ultra-conservative family which previously lived there.
“B Good is always looking to lift bold LGBTQ2+ voices and work with exciting new talent so are thrilled to join ‘How Dare You,’” company founder Joe Stephenson told Variety. “The script is bold, current, and exactly the type of film we want to see more of in the current climate. Kit and Arran are pulling together an exceptional creative team, and we’re excited to help bring their vision to life.”
B Good’s recent productions include “McKellen: Playing the Part,” “The Greatest Show Never Made,” and “Doctor Jekyll.”
Although “King Baby,” which premiered at IFF Rotterdam in 2024, is the feature debut of Kit Redstone and Arran Shearing (who are billed as Kit & Arran and are based, respectively, in L.A. and Canada) – “How Dare You” is their first script.
“During the pandemic we wanted to make something we could finance ourselves, so that was ‘King Baby,’ and we drew from the experience of getting that project from page to set to screen when redrafting ‘How Dare You,’” Redstone told Variety earlier this week.
“How Dare You,” their passion project, is “the first satirical horror about queer erasure,” he says, and the casting of Amponsah is its latest, most exciting creative development.
In 2012, Toronto-based actor Amponsah was in a house fire that led to the bilateral amputation of his arms and burns to nearly 70 percent of his body. Since then, he has continued to pursue acting on the stage and screen, with credits including “The Last Frontier” and “Being Human.” “‘How Dare You,’ dares you to look through the eyes of the other, challenging your perspective,” Amponsah shared with Variety.
The directors watched Amponsah in Canadian filmmaker Sherren Lee’s award-winning 2017 short “The Things You Think I’m Thinking” – a black male burn-survivor and amputee goes on a date with a regularly-abled man for the first time since his accident – and were captivated by the actor’s charismatic performance.
“We are really excited about placing somebody with disabilities front and centre in a film that is not about overcoming those disabilities,” Redstone said.
“As filmmakers, we are interested in horror because it reflects what we’re afraid of in contemporary life. So often horror positions anything queer – not just LGBTQ2+ but also elements of disability – to perpetuate the status quo.
“We wanted to place inane normality as horror, digging deep into the things we see every day in a classic American family, that could be repurposed as horrifying.”
“King Baby,” “How Dare You,” and the duo’s in-development Western “Jericho” form an unplanned trilogy of films that critique the patriarchal system, Redstone said. “When you want to tell a story that is unusual and off kilter, hanging it on the framework of genre allows audiences to understand ideas that are more challenging because they understand the framework of genre.”
The Fantasia Festival’s Frontières Market runs July 23-26 in Montreal.
Producer Madeleine Davis (“With Love and a Major Organ”) of Vancouver-based Common Knowledge serves as lead producer, having developed the project at the 2024 IFFR Pro Rotterdam Lab. She will present “How Dare You” at the opening pitch event of the four-day Frontières Market, produced as part of Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival.
Davis said the producers aims to start shooting in Canada in Spring 2026. She is in negotiations with a Canadian distributor and is looking for co-production partners, in particular from Ontario and Europe, and for a sales agent.
“How Dare You” tells the story of Prince (Amponsah), who grew up in a children’s home after sustaining serious injuries in a fire that killed his family. As an adult, he buys a country home to share with his queer friends, but ends up having to save them from normality when they are possessed by the ghosts of the ultra-conservative family which previously lived there.
“B Good is always looking to lift bold LGBTQ2+ voices and work with exciting new talent so are thrilled to join ‘How Dare You,’” company founder Joe Stephenson told Variety. “The script is bold, current, and exactly the type of film we want to see more of in the current climate. Kit and Arran are pulling together an exceptional creative team, and we’re excited to help bring their vision to life.”
B Good’s recent productions include “McKellen: Playing the Part,” “The Greatest Show Never Made,” and “Doctor Jekyll.”
Although “King Baby,” which premiered at IFF Rotterdam in 2024, is the feature debut of Kit Redstone and Arran Shearing (who are billed as Kit & Arran and are based, respectively, in L.A. and Canada) – “How Dare You” is their first script.
“During the pandemic we wanted to make something we could finance ourselves, so that was ‘King Baby,’ and we drew from the experience of getting that project from page to set to screen when redrafting ‘How Dare You,’” Redstone told Variety earlier this week.
“How Dare You,” their passion project, is “the first satirical horror about queer erasure,” he says, and the casting of Amponsah is its latest, most exciting creative development.
In 2012, Toronto-based actor Amponsah was in a house fire that led to the bilateral amputation of his arms and burns to nearly 70 percent of his body. Since then, he has continued to pursue acting on the stage and screen, with credits including “The Last Frontier” and “Being Human.” “‘How Dare You,’ dares you to look through the eyes of the other, challenging your perspective,” Amponsah shared with Variety.
The directors watched Amponsah in Canadian filmmaker Sherren Lee’s award-winning 2017 short “The Things You Think I’m Thinking” – a black male burn-survivor and amputee goes on a date with a regularly-abled man for the first time since his accident – and were captivated by the actor’s charismatic performance.
“We are really excited about placing somebody with disabilities front and centre in a film that is not about overcoming those disabilities,” Redstone said.
“As filmmakers, we are interested in horror because it reflects what we’re afraid of in contemporary life. So often horror positions anything queer – not just LGBTQ2+ but also elements of disability – to perpetuate the status quo.
“We wanted to place inane normality as horror, digging deep into the things we see every day in a classic American family, that could be repurposed as horrifying.”
“King Baby,” “How Dare You,” and the duo’s in-development Western “Jericho” form an unplanned trilogy of films that critique the patriarchal system, Redstone said. “When you want to tell a story that is unusual and off kilter, hanging it on the framework of genre allows audiences to understand ideas that are more challenging because they understand the framework of genre.”
The Fantasia Festival’s Frontières Market runs July 23-26 in Montreal.