Ballerina Overdrive casts Maddie Ziegler & Avantika in 87North & Gulfstream Pictures collaboration

Gulfstream Pictures is fully financing the project, while Max Jacoby is overseeing for 87North.

Maddie Ziegler (Fitting In, My Old Ass) and Avantika (Mean Girls) are the latest additions to the indie action film Ballerina Overdrive, produced by 87North and Gulfstream Pictures. Directed by Vicky Jewson from a script by Kate Freund, the film revolves around a group of ballerinas stranded at a remote inn after their bus breaks down en route to a dance competition, forcing them to fight for survival.

As previously reported exclusively by Deadline, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, and Millicent Simmonds are also part of the cast. Lena Headey, Yara Shahidi, and Isabela Merced, who were initially attached, have since left the project. The film, cast by Jenny Jue, is currently being shot in Budapest.

Kelly McCormick and David Leitch (The Fall Guy, Bullet Train) are producing through 87North, along with Bill Bindley and Mike Karz for Gulfstream Pictures, with Piers Tempest also on board. Gulfstream Pictures is fully financing the project. Max Jacoby is overseeing for 87North.

CAA Media Finance is handling domestic sales, while international sales are managed by Vincent Maraval and Kim Fox’s The Veterans.

Ziegler, who recently starred in Fitting In, will next 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 made her U.S. debut with Disney Channel’s Spin (2021) and followed up with Netflix’s Senior Year (2022). She gained recognition for her role in the musical comedy Mean Girls (2024) as Karen Shetty. Her recent work includes a role in the horror film Tarot, directed by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg. Avantika is repped by UTA, ColorCreative, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

Ballerina Overdrive is 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.