#Chad Michael Murray Is Ted Bundy in Serial Killer Biopic American Boogeyman

One Tree Hill and Riverdale star Chad Michael Murray has signed on to play an infamous serial killer in Voltage Pictures’ upcoming thriller Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman. Murray will join the likes of NCIS star Mark Harmon and most recently Zac Efron, who earned much critical acclaim for his portrayal of the ’70s killer in 2019’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

While Chad Michael Murray may seem a surprising choice to play Bundy, the studio has confidence in the casting choice. “Ted Bundy is such a fascinatedly divisive character and is the true personification of evil,” said Voltage Pictures president and COO Jonathan Deckter. “Murray is so talented and expertly captures Bundy’s charm and seductive nature, traits that the notorious killer exploited to win the trust of his victims as well as society. It’s fantastic to continue working with the very gifted Lucas and Dan on this feature and bring engaging narratives to the screen.”

American Boogeyman will be set in, “a gritty and decadent 1970s America, following the elusive and charming killer and the manhunt that brought him to justice involving the detective and the FBI rookie who coined the phrase ‘serial killer’.”

The Haunting Of Sharon Tate and Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers director Daniel Farrands will helm this killer project from a script he has written. Rounding out the key cast alongside Murray are Lin Shaye (Insidious, Sony’s The Grudge, Showtime’s Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels) and Holland Roden (Sony’s Escape Room 2, MTV’s Teen Wolf). Producing American Boogeyman are Lucas Jarach (The Haunting Of Sharon Tate, The Amityville Murders), Daniel Davila (Dead Mine, Knife Fight) and Farrands (The Haunting In Connecticut). Alan Pao (The November Man) and Luke Daniels (Under The Silver Lake, No Man’s Land) will serve as executive producers.

Ted Bundy remains one of the most well-known serial killers in American history. Murdering young girls throughout the 1970s, and possibly earlier, Bundy’s horrific legacy is remembered due to the killer’s handsome looks and charismatic manner, going against everything that authorities and the public at the time had believed about serial killers. After being caught and imprisoned, Bundy denied his part in the murders for a decade, before eventually confessing to 30 homicides, committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978. His true victim total remains unknown and believed by some investigators to be higher. Bundy was executed for his crimes on Tuesday, January 24, 1989.

Several biographical movies have since been made about the life of serial killer Ted Bundy, with the most recent being director Joe Berlinger’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile starring Zac Efron and Lily Collins. American Boogeyman is not the only Ted Bundy picture in development, with Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood also due to star in No Man Of God, which tells the story of the relationship between Bundy, played by Take This Waltz star Luke Kirby, and FBI agent Bill Hagmaier (Wood), the latter interviewing him multiple times over a number of years about his crimes.

Fathom Events will release American Boogeyman theatrically across the US on August 16. Voltage and Dark Star Pictures will then handle downstream rights. This comes to us from Screen Daily.

Topics: Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman