Halsey and Avan Jogia's Psycho-Sexual Horror Film 'Replacer' Sets Montreal Shoot for Late Summer 2026

Montreal-based crew and genre film specialists should be paying close attention right now. Replacer, a psycho-sexual horror feature co-written by pop star and multi-hyphenate artist Halsey and actor-director Avan Jogia, is heading into production in Montreal this coming August, with cameras expected to roll from late August through late September 2026. The film launched sales at the Cannes 2026 market, signaling serious commercial momentum, and with pre-production already underway, the hiring window for department heads and key crew is very much open.

Avan Jogia makes his feature directorial debut with Replacer, which he co-wrote with Halsey. Jogia is best known to genre audiences through his work on Syfy's Zombies, as well as his recurring role on Ghost Wars and appearances in Now You See Me 2, but Replacer represents a significant creative leap into the director's chair on a theatrical feature. Halsey, who stars in the film as Proxy, a troubled DJ stranded in Montreal who stumbles into an underground radio collective and something far more sinister beneath the city's subway system, brings a built-in audience and a proven artistic sensibility rooted in dark, surrealist storytelling. Her music and visual work have long trafficked in body horror and psychological unease, making this film feel like a natural and genuine extension of her creative voice rather than a celebrity vanity project. The two collaborating as co-writers is one of the more intriguing creative partnerships to emerge from the 2026 Cannes market.

Perhaps the single most noteworthy name attached to Replacer from a production culture standpoint is executive producer Lilly Wachowski. One half of the iconic Wachowski siblings directing duo behind The Matrix trilogy, Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas, and the Netflix series Sense8, Wachowski brings extraordinary genre credibility to the project. Her presence as an EP signals that Replacer is not approaching its horror and transformation themes superficially. Wachowski's body of work is defined by radical identity, physical metamorphosis, and underground resistance movements, themes that map almost directly onto the film's logline. Joining her in the executive producer ranks are Anthony Li, Lawrence Mattis, Sarah Flores, Christopher Renteria, and Emily McCann Lesser, alongside Clay Epstein of Film Mode Entertainment. Producers Kyle Mann of Independent Edge, Isabelle Deluce of Soft Focus Films, and Damiano Tucci of Getaway Entertainment round out the producing team, with Parce Que Films and Anarchists United also among the production companies attached.

On the sales and financing side, CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group are handling North American rights, while Film Mode Entertainment, led by Clay Epstein, manages international sales. That dual-agency structure on domestic rights, with both CAA and UTA at the table, points to a project with genuine marketplace heat and a budget tier that warrants serious distribution conversations. Film Mode is a well-established international sales outfit with a strong track record in genre and specialty film, having represented titles across multiple Cannes, Berlin, and Toronto markets. Their involvement suggests Replacer is being positioned as a festival-and-market play with wide international ambitions, not a straight-to-streaming acquisition. For crew assessing the budget and working conditions, that positioning typically correlates with a professionally resourced union-affiliated production, though specific union status has not been officially confirmed.

Montreal is a natural home for this story, and the choice carries real practical logic beyond the narrative geography. Quebec's film and television tax credit program remains one of the most competitive in North America, offering substantial refundable credits that routinely attract international productions. Montreal specifically has a robust local crew base built up over decades of American and international productions, with strong infrastructure in grip and electric, art department, camera, and locations departments. The city's Metro system, its brutalist architecture, and its labyrinthine underground city (the RÉSO network) provide a ready-made visual grammar for a film about signals emanating from beneath the subway. Crew based in Montreal should note that the shoot is scheduled to wrap by the end of September, making it a roughly five-week principal photography schedule, which is lean but not unusual for a genre feature of this scale. Given the film's psycho-sexual horror premise and its emphasis on transformation and subterranean atmosphere, the art department and production design team will likely carry heavy creative responsibility. A strong locations department will also be essential for capturing Montreal's underground infrastructure.

Genre-wise, Replacer falls squarely into the tradition of body horror and urban dread, a space that has produced some of the most creatively daring films in recent memory and one that rewards cinematographers, production designers, costume designers, and makeup and special effects teams who can work in service of a singular, unsettling vision. The musical and DJ-culture elements of the story suggest there may also be meaningful sound design and music supervision components involved from the earliest stages of production. Any crew with experience in practical effects and transformation sequences should take particular note.

For the full production listing, including production office contact information, crew list updates, and scheduling details as they become available, visit ProductionList.com and search for Replacer. The production is actively in pre-production, which means the hiring window for department heads is happening right now. If Montreal is your market or genre horror is your specialty, this is a listing worth bookmarking and checking back on frequently as the August start date approaches.

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