Last week we updated our readers with the exciting news that award-winning cinematographer Jomo Fray was among the chief crew onboard Kantemir Balagov‘s third feature and English language debut, and with production beginning this week we now learn the identity of a key supporting player. Deadline reports that Harry Melling is joining Barry Keoghan and Riley Keough in Butterfly Jam. We loved Melling’s performance in Antonio Campos’ The Devil All the Time and might be headed to Cannes for Harry Lighton’s feature debut, Pillion.
Formerly titled Monica, this is set against the backdrop of New Jersey’s Circassian community, the film revolves around 15-year-old Pyteh whose father and aunt run a struggling diner specializing in Circassian cuisine. When he’s not helping out in the restaurant, the boy is training to become a professional wrestler. After one of his father’s misguided schemes goes wrong, he is forced to take on board his father’s failings as he finds himself confronted with a violence that will force him to grow up faster than he would like.
