‘Hereditary’ Actor Alex Wolff Teases Dark, Emotional Thriller ‘If She Burns’

Hereditary, Old, and A Quiet Place: Day One star Alex Wolff is preparing to helm his sophomore feature, the dark psychological thriller If She Burns, in which he’ll also star. The multi-hyphenate talent recently provided Deadline with an update on the film, teasing a “dark, emotional” ride ahead.

If She Burns will also star Victoria Pedretti (“You,” “The Haunting of Hill House”), Asa Butterfield (All Fun and Games, Flux Gourmet, Choose ofDie) and Justice Smith (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Quarry).

The film “follows a fiery young woman (Victoria Pedretti) who travels to Europe with her dysfunctional family after a traumatic incident. She finds refuge and danger in a turbulent affair with her enigmatic neighbor (Wolff), which along with increasing family tensions and mysterious wildfires, threaten to push her to breaking point.”

“It’s a dark but also warm and emotional thriller,” Wolff told Deadline. “One of my favorite genres that you don’t see too often, is a movie that moves propulsively, but also is emotional, fragile, and vulnerable. I was very inspired by films like Through a Glass Darkly and, and there’s elements here of My Night at Mauds and La Ventura.”

He further clarified, “It’s not to say it’ll be as powerful or as evocative as any of those, but they’re certainly reference points. They all give you a similar feeling of not being quite sure of the direction that they’re going in.”

Wolff also teased  that his dark thriller will “keep you on the edge; is everything going to crumble, or are we going to feel some kind of light at the end?”

The filmmaker is directing based on his own screenplay and will also write and produce music for the film with Karl McComas-Reichl.  The film is also produced by Jay Van Hoy (The Witch) and Andra Gordon (Castle in the Ground).