James Gunn’s ‘The Belko Experiment’ Signs Up Tony Goldwyn and John Gallagher Jr.

First of all, when last we wrote about this project, it was called The Belco Experiment with a ‘c.’ Now it seems to be The Belko Experiment with a ‘k.’ But it’s the same film, from a script by Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. All that’s changed is one letter in the title. (Maybe there’s a real Belco out there that didn’t want their name showing up in a James Gunn horror movie?)

Whatever you want to call it, The Belko Experiment is Gunn’s first horror movie in almost a decade, since 2006’s awesomely underrated Slither. In Gunn’s own words, Belko is about “ the American Bel[k]o company in South America which is mysteriously sealed off at the beginning of a work day, and its employees are ordered to kill each other or be killed themselves. This starts an escalation of violence, where we discover the true nature of each and every Bel[k]o employee.” In March, Gunn announced that Wolf Creek filmmaker Greg McLean would direct the film from Gunn’s script (while he’s busy making Guardians of the Galaxy 2). This week, Gunn announced two of the film’s stars on Facebook:

Calling Gallagher one of the best actors he’s ever seen is pretty high praise coming from Gunn, who’s already worked with some of the most talented actors in Hollywood and basically already turned a relatively sitcom star into maybe the biggest leading man in Hollywood. I’m not sure I would quite go that far on Gallagher, but Short Term 12 is one of my absolute favorite movies of the last couple years, and Gallagher is outstanding in it. If The Belko Experiment breaks him out in a big way, that’s nothing but good news. Gunn promises more cast and crew announcements on The Belko/Belco Experiment soon.