‘Anxious People’: Aimee Lou Wood Joins Angelina Jolie In Buzzy Holiday Hostage Flick Directed By Marc Forster

Coming off the massive success of the third season of Mike White’s hit HBO series “The White Lotus,” British actress Aimee Lou Wood has nabbed a meaty role in a new hostage thriller, “Anxious People.” The drama will see her co-starring alongside Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie (“Those Who Wish Me Dead”).

“Anxious People” will be helmed by German filmmaker Marc Forster (“Monster’s Ball”) with a script penned by David Magee (“Life of Pi,” “A Man Called Otto”), who adapted the Fredrik Backman novel of the same name.

In the film, Wood plays a would-be bank robber who takes a group of people hostage on the day before Christmas Eve, including an investment banker played by Jolie.

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An official synopsis mentioned by the outlet:

“The day before Christmas Eve, investment banker Zara (Jolie) begrudgingly finds herself mingling with a group of strangers at an open house. When a reluctant bank robber, Grace (Wood), inadvertently takes the group hostage, chaos and oversharing ensues, secrets are revealed, and literally nothing goes according to plan. A film about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.”

Black Bear oversees international sales while WME Independent handles domestic rights as “Anxious People” heads to the Cannes Film Market.

Forster has tackled his fair share of commercial vehicles, such as Disney’s animation/live-action hybrid film “Christopher Robin,” the Brad Pitt-led global zombie disaster film “World War Z,” and the second installment of the Daniel Craig era of the James Bond franchise with “Quantum of Solace.” But he’s also well-known for character-driven projects like the Oscar-winning drama “Monster’s Ball” (earning Halle Berry a Best Actress Oscar), the based-on-true-life human trafficking pic “Machine Gun Preacher” starring Gerard Butler, “The Kite Runner,” the Tom Hanks dramedy “A Man Called Otto,” and the recent WWII movie “White Bird.”

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“Anxious People” seemingly is being set up as an ensemble piece, so who they’ll end up casting as the other hostages alongside Jolie will be super interesting to see.