Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: In a departure from her High School Musical past, Vanessa Hudgens has been set to star alongside Nicolas Cage and John Cusack in Frozen Ground, the Emmett/Furla Films thriller that is being sold here in Toronto, with Voltage Pictures handling international sales. The film, which will begin shooting October 17 in Anchorage, Alaska, marks the feature directing debut of Scott Walker, who wrote the script.

Pic is based on true events surrounding Alaska’s most notorious serial predator, Robert Hansen. Cusack is playing Hansen, regarded in the community as a respected family man. In the span of 12 years, he abducted more than 24 women, flew them into the Alaskan wilderness, and hunted and murdered them. Hudgens will play the one teenage victim who escaped. When she returned to tell her story, nobody believed her. Cage will play the Alaskan State Trooper who finds her on the street. Together they work to bring Hansen to justice.

Frozen Ground is being produced by Randall Emmett and George Furla, along with Amber Entertainment’s Jane Fleming and Mark Ordesky. Envision Entertainment’s Stephan Martirosyan and Remington Chase, and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and executive producers. Emmett/Furla Films this weekend set a $250 million film find with Envision Entertainment. Hudgens is repped by CAA.