Maika Monroe is replacing Margaret Qualley in an adaptation of the novel thriller “Victorian Psycho.”
Qualley parted ways with “Victorian Psycho” mere weeks before filming was set to start in February. A24, which also boarded the project in its early days of development, has also quietly exited the feature and hasn’t been attached for a while, a source confirmed to IndieWire. With Monroe attached, “Victorian Psycho” will again be shopped at the Cannes market.
Qualley would’ve reunited with “Sanctuary” director Zachary Wigon, who is still attached to direct, as is co-star Thomasin McKenzie. Production was going to start in February 2025 in Dublin, Ireland. A representative confirmed to IndieWire that Qualley had a sudden scheduling conflict and had to exit the project. It’s now set to begin filming in August.
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“Victorian Psycho” is set in 1858 and story centers on Winifred Notty, a governess hiding her psychopathic tendencies as she works at a remote gothic manor. The logline teases: “But as the woman takes care of her charges, staff members begin to inexplicably disappear, and the owners of the estate begin to wonder, too late mind you, if their new governess is serving up a spoonful of sugar with a little arsenic on the side.” Virginia Feito wrote the novel and also wrote the screenplay.
The “Longlegs” actress is reuniting with producer Dan Kagan on the project, who also produced both her films “Longlegs” and “Azrael.”
As the film is no longer at A24, it is a sales title now, and IndieWire understands the film already has multiple offers; Anton is fully financing the film and is repping international rights, with U.S. rights co-represented by Anton, UTA Independent Film Group, and CAA Media Finance. Sébastien Raybaud is producing in association with Anonymous Content. Nick Shumaker, Bard Dorros, and Virginia Feito will executive produce.
“Maika’s intense screen presence has resonated with me over and over again throughout her history of complex performances,” director Wigon said in a press statement. “I’m absolutely thrilled for her to bring her unique style of psychological portraiture to the fascinatingly bizarre Winifred Notty.”
Qualley told IndieWire in late January 2025 that she was undergoing extensive prep work to play a governess who is taking care of children in a remote gothic manor while hiding her psychopathic tendencies.
“I’ve never done a British accent before, so that’s terrifying,” Qualley said at the time. “I’ve been working on the accent, and my poor husband, I’ve limited our movies to only British accent movies. I read this book on the Victorian life and it was really interesting. It’s just kind of amazing how much we’ve evolved in such a short time period.”
She added, “And I’ve been wearing a corset around the house to get comfortable with that. It’s actually not as bad as you think if it fits well, and it’s kind of fun. I’m just trying to get used to moving a little bit differently.”
As for the scheduling conflict, it is unclear which project made Qualley drop out of “Victorian Psycho.” Qualley has a full slate of films in the works including Ethan Coen’s “Honey Don’t!” She also recently appeared in Richard Linklater’s Lorenz Hart biopic “Blue Moon,” which debuted at Berlin.
