Mystery… has met its match.
After her mother’s death, 16-year-old sleuth Nancy Drew and her father Carson relocate from Chicago to rural River Heights. While Nancy struggles to fit in, Carson is active in local politics, fighting the development of a train line through the town. A local thug named Willie Wharton threatens Nancy one night to try to scare her father into backing down.
While performing community service as punishment for a prank on a school bully, Nancy meets Flora, an elderly woman needing help with an apparent haunting in her home. Excited by the mystery, Nancy stays overnight at Flora’s home, along with Flora’s niece Helen. That night, strange things begin to happen, with lights going out and then exploding, cabinet doors and drawers opening, and a cloaked figure appearing and warning Nancy to give up her mystery.
The next day, Nancy believes that someone broke in and tried scaring them out. Nancy and Helen investigate, and they find a secret passage that leads outside, revealing how the “ghost” entered the house. The secret passage also contains props the intruder used to simulate a haunting, such as a rigged fuse box to manipulate the lights in the house. The rest of the strange phenomenon is explained by a rig that emits concentrated nutmeg through the house’s air conditioning, which triggers hallucinations.
Later, Nancy realizes her father, who is staying out of town on a business trip, has not checked in with her or her aunt Hannah recently. She calls her father’s friend Nate, who tells her that Carson’s meeting is at a campsite and reception must be spotty. Nancy is not convinced, as Carson had told her he would be staying at a hotel.
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is a 2019 American teen mystery comedy film directed by Katt Shea with a screenplay by Nina Fiore and John Herrera, based on the book of the same name by Carolyn Keene which was earlier adapted for a 1939 film. The film, produced by A Very Good Production and Red 56 and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, stars Sophia Lillis in the role of Nancy Drew, as she investigates a haunted house. It also stars Zoe Renee, Mackenzie Graham, Laura Slade Wiggins, Sam Trammell, and Linda Lavin in supporting roles.
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase was released in the United States on March 15, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures.[3][4][5] The film received favourable reviews from critics, with praise for Lillis’ performance and humor, but criticized its muddled plot and inconsistent tone.
On April 20, 2018, it was reported that Sophia Lillis would star in the film adaptation of Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, which would be produced by Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff Kleeman, and Chip Diggins for Warner Bros. Pictures. In June 2018, other cast was announced which included Zoe Renee as George, Mackenzie Graham as Bess, Laura Slade Wiggins as Helen, Sam Trammell as Carson, Linda Lavin as Flora, and Andrea Anders as Hannah, along with Jay DeVon Johnson, Andrew Matthew Welch, Jon Briddell, Josh Daugherty, Evan Castelloe, and Jesse C. Boyd.
Principal photography on the film took place in June 2018 in Monroe, Georgia. On January 18, 2019, DeGeneres announced exclusively that the film would be released in theaters on March 15; she also debuted a trailer. On February 19, 2019 Warner Bros. Pictures released a short clip from the movie.
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
Directed by: Katt Shea
Starring: Sophia Lillis, Zoe Renee, Mackenzie Graham, Andrea Anders, Laura Wiggins, Sam Trammell, Linda Lavin, Andrew Matthew Welch, Jon Briddell, Jesse C. Boyd, Ayanna Wardlow
Screenplay by: Nina Fiore, John Herrera
Production Design by: John Collins
Cinematography by: Edd Lukas
Film Editing by: Richard Nord
Costume Design by: Peggy Stamper
Music by: Sherri Chung
MPAA Rating: PG for peril, suggestive material, thematic elements and language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: March 15, 2019
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