Josh Duhamel To Star In ‘Speak’ From Lorenzo Di Bonaventura & Joe Carnahan; Twenty-Nine Palms & CAA Media Finance Launching Sales At TIFF
Actor Josh Duhamel has joined the cast of "Speak," a psychological horror thriller centred on a sinister vintage ventriloquist dummy, directed by John Kissack. The project brings together an experienced genre team, including producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and co-writer/producer Joe Carnahan, and will be introduced to international buyers by Twenty-Nine Palms Entertainment and CAA Media Finance at the Toronto International Film Festival Market, marking a significant sales push for the film ahead of production.
Set in 1994, the film follows a twelve-year-old boy who watches his father descend into terrifying instability after inheriting the dummy, blurring the line between psychological breakdown and supernatural horror. Carnahan co-wrote the script with Kissack and Casey Giltner, while di Bonaventura produces alongside Carnahan, Marvin Neil, Liz Paulson and Kay Cardinal; CAA Media Finance is arranging financing and co-representing US distribution. Principal photography is due to begin in October 2026, with a worldwide release targeted for 2027.
- Josh Duhamel joins horror thriller "Speak" about a cursed ventriloquist dummy.
- Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Joe Carnahan produce; John Kissack directs.
- Sales launch at TIFF; filming starts October, release set for 2027.
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Josh Duhamel plays a leading man across romantic comedies, action films and television, perhaps best known for "Transformers" and the series "Las Vegas." "Speak" would mark a move into horror for him, in a story built around a classic genre fixture: a possessed-looking ventriloquist's dummy that pushes a family towards psychological or supernatural collapse.
The film is being put together by figures well known in Hollywood genre circles. Lorenzo di Bonaventura is a veteran producer behind large action and horror franchises, while Joe Carnahan is a writer-director known for tense, character-driven thrillers; here he works as co-writer and producer rather than director, with John Kissack directing. Twenty-Nine Palms Entertainment and CAA Media Finance are companies that help arrange funding and sell distribution rights for films to buyers around the world.
The announcement centres on the Toronto International Film Festival, one of the industry's major annual events, where a market runs alongside the public festival for producers to pitch unfinished or upcoming projects to international distributors. Such sales markets are a routine but important step in getting a film financed and eventually released, and a notable cast addition like Duhamel is often used to help attract buyer interest before a project goes into production.