Character actor Colm Meany, who has been tearing it up on AMC's Western-drama Hell on Wheels as Doc Durant, has just signed on to join the cast of the soon-to-shoot indie thriller The Occult according to THR. Rufus Sewell and Anne Heche were the first stars to commit to the flick that focuses on a cult preparing for the coming of the devil's daughter, who may or may not be played by newcomer Alycia Debnam-Carey. Penned by a fleet of screenwriters that includes Karl Mueller (The Divide), Andrew Stern (Disconnect) and the horror-crafting duo Marcus Dunstan & Patrick Melton (Piranha 3DD), the Satan-centric offering reveals the final days before their prophecy will be proven right or wrong, and as the crucial date—wherein the spawn of Satan will turn 18 and become a woman/the bringer of the End of Days—approaches, a string of deadly murders begins to plague the town. Is it all a part of the prophecy or does someone have a scheme of their own?
Confusing? Yes, yes it is. But the producers behind The Occult are being incredibly tight-lipped on the project. Not only are the released plot details frustratingly vague, so also are the casting updates. While we know Meany, Sewell, Heche and Debnam-Carey have signed on, we have no reports as to what characters they'll play, not even such vague descriptions as "a concerned mother" or "the sheriff." I'm all for keeping a thriller's twists secret, but I can't imagine knowing basic sketches of character archetypes would be damning much less enter spoiler territory. Anyhow, The Occult is shooting in North Carolina this month, but is not expected to hit theaters until 2013. Until then, we'll be left to wonder.
