Maddie Ziegler (Fitting In, My Old Ass) and Avantika (Mean Girls) have joined the cast of the indie action film Ballerina Overdrive, produced by 87North and Gulfstream Pictures. Directed by Vicky Jewson with a script by Kate Freund, the film centers on a group of ballerinas stranded at a remote inn after their bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition, forcing them to fight for survival.
Previously reported exclusively by Deadline, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, and Millicent Simmonds are also part of the cast. However, Lena Headey, Yara Shahidi, and Isabela Merced, who were initially attached to the project, have since departed. The film, cast by Jenny Jue, is currently in production in Budapest.
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Producers Kelly McCormick and David Leitch (The Fall Guy, Bullet Train) are heading the project through 87North, alongside Bill Bindley and Mike Karz from Gulfstream Pictures, with Piers Tempest also joining as a producer. Gulfstream Pictures is fully financing the film, with Max Jacoby overseeing for 87North.
CAA Media Finance is handling domestic sales, while international sales are managed by The Veterans, led by Vincent Maraval and Kim Fox.
Ziegler, who recently starred in Fitting In, is set to appear in the Sundance Film Festival hit My Old Ass, premiering on Prime Video in September. Her other credits include Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and The Book of Henry. She is represented by WME, Rothman/Andres Entertainment, and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.
Avantika, who made her U.S. debut in Disney Channel’s Spin (2021), followed by Netflix’s Senior Year (2022), gained recognition for her role in the musical comedy Mean Girls (2024) as Karen Shetty. She recently appeared in the horror film Tarot, directed by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg. Avantika is represented by UTA, ColorCreative, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Ballerina Overdrive marks the fifth film fully financed by Gulfstream, following Falling with K.J. Apa, Isabel May, Archie Renaux, and Emma Laird, and three films distributed by Prime Video: One Fast Move with KJ Apa, Maia Reficco, Eric Dane, and Edward James Olmos; the comedy Upgraded with Camila Mendes, Marisa Tomei, Renaux, Andrew Schultz, and Lena Olin; and the romantic comedy The Other Zoey, starring Josephine Langford, Drew Starkey, Renaux, Andie MacDowell, and Heather Graham.
