It's taken more than a decade for The Standford Prison Experiment to get moving, but this past summer we started to see things take shape with the additions of Billy Crudup, Michael Angarano, and Ezra Miller to the cast. The film, which is based on the notorious 1971 social experiment, has now gotten even better with six of Hollywood's youngest and brightest stars coming aboard.
Joining the Kyle Alvarez-directed drama are Olivia Thirlby (Dredd), Nelsan Ellis (True Blood, Get on Up), Tye Sheridan (Mud), James Frecheville (Animal Kingdom), Johnny Simmons (Jennifer's Body), and Ki Hong Lee (The Maze Runner). The story is based on the landmark experiment in which a group of 19 and 20-year-olds were divided into "prisoners" and "prison guards" to see how their behavior would change over the course of a couple weeks. Unsurprisingly, the prison guards became abusive and sadistic toward the prisoners, forcing the program's early termination. Crudup leads as Philip Zimbardo, the man who ran the experiment, wrote a book on it, and gave the blessing for this film to happen. Thirlby will play Zimbardo's wife, also an academic.
Filming is underway now and my fingers are crossed it's finished in time for Sundance. [Deadline]
