Production has begun on My Darling California, Elijah Bynum's follow-up to Magazine Dreams. Jessica Chastain, Chris Evans, Chris Pine, Mikey Madison, and Don Cheadle are now shooting in California, with Anton producing, financing, and handling international sales.
The film is set in 1980 Los Angeles. According to Deadline, the story centers on a single crime connecting five characters: a fallen news anchor, her cheating televangelist husband, two small-time crooks, an ex-con, and a rising country music idol. The production describes it as an American noir built around "ambition, greed and violence, and a love letter to the darker side of California."
Two new financial partners have joined the project: 1Community, whose credits include Just Mercy, and Access Entertainment, which backed Conclave and The Zone of Interest. CAA Media Finance co-represents domestic and global rights alongside Anton. The film also received the second-largest allocation in California's Film & TV Tax Credit program for independent features.
Chayse Irvin serves as director of photography. Anthony Gasparro is production designer, and Natasha Newman-Thomas handles costumes. No distributor has been announced.
A five-person period ensemble arriving to market this fall with no buyer attached is either extremely disciplined or extremely confident. The festival circuit will likely decide which.