Casting for the movie adaptation of author Jay Bonansinga’s “Self Storage” horror thriller is taking shape. “Walking Dead” actor Lew Temple is signed to the lead role of Johnny Fitzgerald, while actor, singer and pro wrestler Chris Jericho will play the quirky “Darryl the Account Executive.” Darryl triggers the incident that sends Johnny to “his dark destiny at the self-storage facility,” according to show materials from production company Delirium Tremens Entertainment.
Delirium Tremens is excited to have Jericho as part of the cast because of the exposure he’s likely to bring to the film, officials said. Not only does he have more than 14 million followers on social media, his “Talk to Jericho” podcast receives more than 250,000 downloads each week. He’s currently the top star on TNT’s “All Elite Wrestling” and the lead singer of the rock band Fozzy.
Delirium Tremens has also released the promotional video for the film, partially shot on site at a Devon Self Storage facility in Chicago. Bonansinga, who wrote the screenplay and will direct the movie, appears in the promo to set the tone of the story and pitch viewers on how they can get involved in the indy project.
Written in 2016, “Self Storage” centers on Johnny, a lonely, divorced graphic illustrator with a major heroin habit. When Johnny accidentally gets trapped inside a deserted self-storage facility with his young son, he’s forced to face demons both real and imagined. While trapped inside the unit, father and son battle thirst, hunger, the effects of heroin withdrawal, and something dark and terrifying touched off by the self-storage facility itself.
The book, which Bonansinga has called his “most personal” work, is available for purchase through the Inside Self-Storage Store. Best known for writing “The Walking Dead” novels based on the Robert Kirkman comic-book series, Bonansinga is also co-writing “The Devil’s Quintet,” a four-book superhero series based on a concept developed by Stan Lee, who co-created the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men and other Marvel Comics characters.