Lupita Nyong’o takes starring role in ‘Little Monsters’

Image: AFP/Joe Klamar

A school trip horror-comedy has attracted the likes of Lupita Nyong’o, Josh Gad and Alexander England to sign on for the next film from two-time Australian Academy nominee Abe Forsythe.

Struggling musician Dave and top children’s TV presenter Teddy are both interested in winning the affections of teacher Caroline, ending up on a school trip with her.

None of them bargained on a zombie outbreak occurring in the middle of the class outing, but that’s exactly what happens in “Little Monsters”.

Lupita Nyong’o and Josh Gad have both been announced as the movie’s latest cast additions, with Oscar winner Nyong’o installed as Miss Caroline and Grammy recipient Gad becoming Teddy McGiggle.

Alexander England, who featured in the previous Forsythe feature “Down Under”, as well as Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant”, plays Dave.

The 2016 dark crime comedy “Down Under” saw Forsythe receive two awards from Austin Fantastic Fest and a further nomination from Australia’s Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, enhancing his reputation as a writer and director after TV work and numerous appearances in front of the camera as an actor.

Lupita Nyong’o scooped her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 2014 Academy Awards, having impressed in that year’s Best Picture winner, “12 Years a Slave”.

Following that breakout role she has been seen in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” as diminuitive bar owner and resistance leader Maz Kanata, in “The Jungle Book” as Mowgli’s mother figure and wolf Raksha, in “Queen of Katwe” as the mother of a Ugandan chess prodigy, and will soon feature in Marvel’s February 2018 excursion “Black Panther” as a special forces agent under the command of African superhero T’Challa.

Josh Gad is perhaps best known for his comedic turns in “Frozen”, “Pixels”, “The Angry Birds Movie” and “Beauty and the Beast”, but has taken more serious roles in legal drama “Marshall”, tech biopic “Jobs”, and Agatha Christie adaptation “Murder on the Orient Express”. JB

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