Aaron Eckhart and Brenton Thwaites Head to TIFF Market with Post-Apocalyptic Thriller 'Out of the Ashes'
Aaron Eckhart and Brenton Thwaites lead the cast of Out of the Ashes, a post-apocalyptic action thriller from director Steven C. Miller, with filming having recently wrapped in Kentucky (Deadline).
The film follows a former soldier, played by Eckhart, determined to protect his young daughter (Bella Samman) as the pair flee marauders across a world ravaged by a mysterious pandemic. Thwaites, Autumn Reeser, Don Worley, Michael Regan and Kira Reed round out the cast. Chad Law and Dick Grunert wrote the screenplay.
Miller and Eckhart last collaborated on the 2019 action thriller Line of Duty, making Out of the Ashes a reunion for the two. Miller's more recent directing credits include Under Fire, with Mason Gooding and Dylan Sprouse, and Werewolves, starring Frank Grillo and Lou Diamond Phillips.
Sagiv Diamant produced under his Element Production banner, alongside Jordan Dykstra. Chad Law also produces through his Underdogg Entertainment banner. Executive producers are Jamie R. Thompson, Jon Keyes and Michael Arata of New Dimension Films, with Denisa Juhos and Don Worley.
Dykstra is handling worldwide sales — the process of selling distribution rights territory by territory to international buyers — through Ignite Pictures at the Toronto International Film Festival market. The TIFF market, running alongside the festival, is where sales agents and distributors negotiate deals for films seeking distribution across global territories.
Eckhart most recently starred in Renny Harlin's Deep Water. Thwaites was seen in the Paramount+ series Two Years Later opposite Phoebe Tonkin and in We Bury the Dead opposite Daisy Ridley. Samman, who previously recurred on CW's Walker, The Originals and Legacies, will next appear in Taylor Sheridan's The Madison opposite Michelle Pfeiffer.
What makes the project click into place is timing. Principal photography is already in the can, and the film arrives at TIFF with a named cast and a sales operation ready to go — the kind of package that gives buyers confidence at a market where many titles are still seeking financing. Whether distributors bite will depend on what they see in the footage, but the ingredients are assembled.
