Thora Birch & Jack Kesy To Star In Drama ‘Civilian’ From Director John J. Budion

EXCLUSIVE: Thora Birch (The Chronology of Water) and Jack Kesy (Hellboy: The Crooked Man) have closed deals to star in Civilian, an indie drama from writer-director John J. Budion (Rockaway) that will shoot later this year.

Civilian follows a military veteran (Kesy) who is struggling to adapt to the normalcy of life after his service until he takes on one last mission against his suspicious neighbors. Meanwhile, his wife (Birch) confronts her own feelings of regret, unfulfilled potential, and sacrifices made for the sake of her son and family.

Cory Thompson (Barron’s Cove) of Rewind Artists is producing alongside Juan Pablo Reinoso of Lookbook Entertainment and Anthony Argento of Rollin’ Studios. Thomas Sullivan and Leo Wolfe are overseeing casting.

Coming off his feature directorial debut with the indie drama Rockaway, Budion said, “The film is inspired by my brother Anthony, and good friend Ryan, who both served honorably in the United States Air Force. I could not think of a more perfect pairing of the iconic Thora Birch and former marine Jack Kesy to bring it to the screen.”

A Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Emmy–nominated actress, known for films like American Beauty and Ghost World, Birch has most recently been seen starring alongside Imogen Poots and Jim Belushi in Kristen Stewart’s debut feature The Chronology of Water, based on Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir, which premiered at Cannes. She is repped by Buchwald, Luber Roklin Entertainment and Brecheen Feldman Breimer.

Seen alongside Mark Ruffalo, Emilia Jones and Tom Pelphrey in HBO’s Golden Globe-nominated series Task, Kesy recently wrapped a role opposite Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie in Apple’s limited series 121212. Other recent credits include Amazon MGM’s The Pickup starring Eddie Murphy, as well as Hellboy: The Crooked Man, where he played the title character. He is repped by Paradigm.

Budion is repped by Rewind Artists.