Up-and-coming filmmaker Ryan Piers Williams has dabbled in a little bit of everything when it comes to putting a movie together. He's worked in post-production, has a couple of screenplays and acting gigs to his credit. Plus, he made his feature directorial debut in 2010 with the Edinburgh Film Festival prize-winning drama The Dry Land, which starred his long-time girlfriend America Ferrera (Ugly Betty, End of Watch). Yahoo reports these two love birds are reuniting for Williams' forthcoming follow-up X/Y, a relationship drama where the pair will play a recently split couple.
Williams is producing, directing and starring in the movie as Mark; Ferrara is producing as well as playing Mark's newly minted ex Silvia. The drama centers on how their breakup impacts the group dynamic of their circle of friends. Production for X/Y has begun in New York, and its cast includes Hell on Wheels' Common, Ann Dowd--who recently won acclaim for the troubling indie Compliance--Melonie Diaz of the Sundance hit Fruitvale, Jon Paul Phillips who appeared in the Williams-produced doc Kilimanjaro that premiered at SXSW this year, Starlet's Dree Hemingway, Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer Adam Rapp, Louie's Maria Dizzia, and one of Ferrera's End of Watch castmates, David Harbour.
Considering Williams' success of the film festival circuit, we can anticipate X/Y will start popping up at fest lineups later this year or early next year. In the meantime, look for Ferrera in the Diego Luna-directed biopic Chavez, which is due out this year. Common can be spotted in the magician-centered thriller Now You See Me, and Dowd will appear opposite Vanessa Hudgens in the Ron Kraus drama Gimme Shelter.
