Marcus Anthony Thomas, an alumnus of Warner Bros. Discovery's directing mentorship on "House of the Dragon," has begun shooting his feature directorial debut, the British psychological thriller "Cast Me!" in London. The project marks his transition from award-winning short films to features, and is also the first feature production for producer Jordi Morera's 2020Films banner, underlining the challenges independent filmmakers face in getting projects off the ground.

The film stars newcomer IIniki Mariano in her debut feature role, alongside Samuel Adewunmi, Stella Gonet, Dean-Charles Chapman and Clare Holman. Written and directed by Thomas, the story follows young actor Aanya, who believes she has won a major role after auditioning for a famous actor-turned-first-time-director, only for the studio to overturn the decision, sending her into an obsessive search for answers that blurs ambition, performance and reality. Thomas spent 16 months shadowing directors, including showrunner Miguel Sapochnik, on the first season of "House of the Dragon" before making this move into features.