Riverdale’s Madelaine Petsch and Chloe x Halle’s Chlöe Bailey are going to be co-stars. The duo will share the screen in Jane (styled JANE), an upcoming psychological thriller that takes a haunting look at social media anxiety and mental health issues from the perspective of a high school student. The film is produced by Petsch, directed by rising filmmaker Sabrina Jaglom, and co-written by Jaglom and Rishi Rajani.
Jane follows Olivia (Petsch), a Type A high school senior struggling with grief after a friend’s death. “After being deferred from her dream college, she begins to spiral and experiences a series of increasingly frightening panic attacks. In an attempt to regain some sense of control, she embarks on a social media-fueled rampage against those that stand in the way of her success but, as things escalate, she is forced to confront—and embrace—her darkest impulses in order to get ahead,” according to the film’s synopsis.
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Bailey joins Petsch as Izzy, Olivia’s best friend. This marks another screen role for the Grammy-nominated singer, who most recently starred as Jazz Forster on Grown-ish. She’s also releasing solo music under Chlöe, while her sister, Halle Bailey, is also pursuing screen roles in The Little Mermaid and The Color Purple.
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The Jane cast also includes Oscar winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Ian Owens (Shrill), Kerri Medders (SEAL Team, Alexa & Katie), Nina Bloomgarden (Fatherhood), and model Chloe Yu.
“Jane is about the extremes people will go to to get what they want and portrays a heightened version of what might happen if anxiety is left unchecked,” director Sabrina Jaglom tells ELLE.com in a statement. “The film is grounded by amazing performances. Madelaine Petsch and Chlöe Bailey take two characters who had previously only existed in my head and not only bring them to life as I imagined, but add a wonderful new depth and perspective.”
Petsch, who has six seasons of Riverdale under her belt (and one more on the way), previously spoke to ELLE.com about her personal connection with the film. “I feel like it’s the first time in my life where I’ve read a script and or even seen a film where I feel like anxiety was personified in a way that I understood it and it felt right to me,” she said. “I’ve struggled with anxiety for a very long time, and I’ve never been able to find a piece of material that resonates with me on that level.”
Jane premieres in select AMC theaters on Aug. 26 and will be streaming exclusively on Creator+ on Sept. 16. (Creator+ is a studio and platform for projects from “digital-native storytellers” and creators.)
Watch the first trailer, premiering exclusively on ELLE.com, above.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.
