Swimming With Sharks Trailer Kiernan Shipka Is A Deadly Assistant

Kiernan Shipka stars as bright-eyed intern Lou Simms, who starts her apprenticeship at Hollywood production studio Fountain Pictures to learn from the best of the best, CEO Joyce Holt (Diane Kruger), in “Swimming with Sharks.” Yet Lou’s dreams of stardom seem to come with a darker edge as her complex plot against Joyce unravels. It was no accident that Lou was selected to join Fountain Pictures, and she’s going to do more than just get her feet wet in the secrets of the studio. Part “The Assistant,” part “All About Eve,” the Roku Channel original warns that “proximity to greatness is intoxicating”…and deadly. “Swimming with Sharks” debuted its trailer during Roku’s first-ever SXSW event. The series is set to premiere on April 15, with all six 30-minute episodes streaming for free on The Roku Channel. Roku jumped into the originals game last year, and the streamer now has a solid lineup of titles on its platform.

Creator, writer, and showrunner Kathleen Robertson helms “Swimming with Sharks,” which is about the dark side of the Hollywood studio system and an assistant who turns the tables on an abusive boss. The series takes inspiration from the 1994 Hollywood takedown starring Kevin Spacey and Frank Whaley. The psychological thriller includes Donald Sutherland, Thomas Dekker, Finn Jones, Erika Alexander, Ross Butler, and Gerardo Celasco in the ensemble cast. Tucker Gates serves as director, while Chris Cowles, Liz Destro, Stephen Israel, Jay Cohen, and Dana Brunetti are executive producers. The series was created in partnership with Lionsgate Television. This isn’t the first time “Mad Men” alum Shipka has shown off her genre chops. The “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” star appeared in Osgood Perkins’ 2017 feature debut “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” as a prep school student with tendencies toward devilish-worshipping cults. Elsewhere coming up from the Roku Channel is the biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” starring Daniel Radcliffe as the infamous parody rock star. The film charts Weird Al’s meteoric rise to fame with early hits like “Eat It” and “Like a Surgeon” as well as his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle. “Swimming with Sharks” premieres April 15 on The Roku Channel.