EXCLUSIVE: Lucy Fry and Eiza González will star in Highway, a thriller that Alexandra McGuinness will direct from her script. Production gets underway this week.

Fry, who starred in The Preppie Connection and next costars opposite Will Smith and Joel Edgerton in the David Ayer-directed Netflix film Bright, plays a small-town diner waitress named Heidi who embarks on a frantic search to find jane, her best friend and rodeo queen. Jane is played by González, who moved from the TV series transfer of Dusk Till Dawn to Baby Driver, and will star in the Robert Rodriguez-directed Battle Angel: Alita. The rodeo queen has suddenly gone missing after meeting a mysterious man (Josh Hartnett). Frantically scouring the desert for her friend, Heidi finds more than she bargained for along the way when she begins to dig up secrets and is thrust into the violence of life on the road.

McGuinness, an actress-turned-director, made her behind-the-camera debut on Lotus Eaters, which premiered in Tribeca in 2011. Blake Berris also co-stars in the film.

Primary Wave

Highway will be produced by Anna O’Malley, Dominic Wright and Eamonn Cleary, and it is being financed by GCI Film, the Irish Film Board and Cofiloisirs, as well as through Irish Section 481 and NM tax credits. Jacqueline Kerrin will be executive producer for Ripple World Pictures, alongside Adam Stanhope and Graham Appleby for GCI Film. The project is a family affair of sorts for Primary Wave Entertainment, which reps McGuinness, Fry and Berris. Fry is agented by ICM Partners, González by CAA and Management 360. McGuinness is repped by Verve, Hartnett is repped by UTA and Management 360.