For her first foray into horror, Melonie Diaz joins John Gallagher Jr. and Tony Goldwyn in the James Gunn-written, Greg McLean-directed The Belko Experiment.
Written by Gunn, with Wolf Creek‘s McLean set to direct in Bogota, Colombia this June, The Belko Experiment “revolves around the American Belko 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 Belko employee.
As he did with Gallagher and Goldwyn, Gunn announced Diaz’s casting via Facebook, admiring her work and revealing her character. Gunn writes:
Have you guys seen Fruitvale Station? Well, I have, and I adored the movie. And one of the things I adored about it the most was the lead actress, Melonie Diaz. Her honest performance was exactly that kind of thing we were looking for for The Belko Experiment. So when she said she was interested in playing Dany Wilkins, one of the leads of the film, I jumped up and down and punched my desk and some trash cans and my assistant Simon with pure joy. Dany is the new girl at Belko. It’s her first day working in the building, and she really couldn’t have chosen a worst first day, since this is the day the employees are all forced to either kill each other or be killed. (When I was nineteen I worked at Denny’s. On my first day the manager pressured me into trying a Moons Over My Hammy. That was pretty bad, but not as bad as this.)”
Of Goldwyn’s character, Gunn previously revealed: “Tony will play Barry Norris. Norris is a guy who is used to being in charge at the Belko Building in South America, so it isn’t easy for him to start taking orders when the office employees are mysteriously forced to either start killing each other or be killed.”
