American Film Market Dailies

Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Jon Hamm (“Mad Men,” Baby Driver) is set to star in the taut supernatural thriller Off Season, it was announced today by Protagonist Pictures CEO Dave Bishop. The electric wilderness chiller is produced by Nira Park (Baby Driver, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) through her Big Talk Pictures and J. Miles Dale (The Shape of Water, Mama) under his Demilo Productions banner.

Off Season is the highly anticipated first feature from BAFTA nominated writer and director Jonathan van Tulleken, based on his BAFTA nominated short of the same name.

Set in the harsh, frozen Canadian tundra, a man goes in search of his elderly father who mysteriously disappears. His feverish search exposes shocking family secrets long buried but not forgotten by vengeful forces at work.

Protagonist is handling international sales with US sales co-repped by CAA and Protagonist. Protagonist and CAA have introduced Off Season to buyers at the American Film Market.  Currently in pre-production, the film is set to begin principal photography in Canada in early 2018.

“I’ve been thinking obsessively about taking this material to the big screen for several years. It’s a story and world that I feel like I have lived and breathed,” said Director Jonathan van Tulleken. “I never imagined I’d have the opportunity to do this with such a highly esteemed team around me. Nira Park and Miles Dale are two of the most gifted and respected producers working in film, and on top of that, to have Jon Hamm in the lead role is the kind of good fortune few first time filmmakers are afforded. I cannot wait to see him bring his immense talent to the role of Tenn.”

Producer Nira Park stated, "There is something really special about this project. J’s unique tonal approach to genre captivated me from the moment I first saw his short film. I couldn’t be happier to be working with him on such a compelling piece of material. To be doing so with such a great team of previous collaborators, the brilliant Miles Dale and incomparable Jon Hamm, is incredibly exciting.” 

Protagonist CEO Dave Bishop says, "We're thrilled to be working with Nira and Miles on the spine chilling Off Season. We're huge fans of Jonathan van Tulleken's award winning short and leapt at the chance to work with this super experienced team on the feature adaptation. We can't wait to discuss this captivating super natural thriller with buyers at the American Film Market."

Emmy Award winner and two-time Golden Globe winner Jon Hamm is best known for his role as Don Draper on AMC’s “Mad Men”. He most recently starred in the Sundance Film Festival Official Selection Marjorie Prime and Tri-Star Pictures’ box office hit Baby Driver, alongside Kevin Spacey, written and directed by Edgar Wright. His additional credits include Netflix’s hit show “Black Mirror,” Twentieth Century Fox’s Keeping Up with the Joneses, and Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” which earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a comedy series.

Heralded as a ‘Star of Tomorrow’ by Screen International, Columbia University Film School graduate Jonathan Van Tulleken is an award-winning Film & TV director. While a student at Columbia, Jonathan was awarded the prestigious Steve Kessler Award for Best Director. Since then his work in film has been selected and screened at a number of international film festivals and nominated for various awards including the BBC Short Film Awards and Virgin Media Short Finals. In 2012 Jonathan helmed a number of episodes of the BAFTA award winning series “Misfits” and in 2013 directed the second series of Channel 4’s BAFTA winning drama “Top Boy.”

Hamm is repped by CAA, Forward Entertainment and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Tulleken is repped by WME, Independent Talent Group and Oasis Media Group.