Toxic

When Darren agrees to give Irene a ride to a birthday party, we journey into the depths of his fragile ego as it becomes clear that the reality of the evening will fall short of his deluded expectations. Starring and co-produced by Academy Award-nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes.

BME Films in association with Center Wheel Productions present “Toxic.”

Starring
John Bain, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Nican Robinson, Liza Dean, Nicole Carmela, Byrne Owens, Gabriela Fresquez

Directed by
Mike Manning

Written by
Mike Manning & Tom Anderson

Produced by
Wesley Barker

Co-Producers
Keisha Castle-Hughes, Thomas Boucher

Executive Producers
Mike Manning, Lauren Manning, Dane Naimy

Director of Photography
Kevin Zanit

Production Designer
Sage Griffin

Edited by
Dane Naimy

Costume Deisgner
Sara Fox

Music by
Daniel Walter

Music Supervisor
Alexa Collazo

VFX Supervisor
John Stewart

Supervising Sound Editor
Mark Camperell, cas/mpse

Casting by
Karina Walters, csa

I wanted to tell a story about “incels” without explicitly pointing a finger at them and saying “eww”. I thought it would be more interesting to look at a man who’s on the brink of radicalization. Our story follows him along on a seemingly innocuous evening, witnessing how he internalizes interactions with women in a way that makes him feel victimized. But even as he repeatedly studies himself in the mirror, he’s unable to self-reflect, clouded by a fog of toxic masculinity.