Simon Pegg Film ‘Angels In The Asylum’ In Talks With Rescue Investor, But “Unlikely” To Fully Repay $5M Owed To Creditors

EXCLUSIVE: Angels in the Asylum, the British indie film starring Simon Pegg and Katherine Waterston, is hoping to secure financing from a rescue investor after shuttering mid-shoot — but it’s not all promising news for those owed money by the production.

As revealed by Deadline earlier this year, Angels in the Asylum was mounted without its financing fully in place and had to halt cameras 15 days into a month-long shoot in February, leaving cast, crew, and other creditors £3.8M ($5M) out of pocket.

AITA Films Limited filed for administration in April, a process equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Kallis Insolvency Practitioners, AITA Films’ administrator, has produced a progress report revealing that the company is now in “detailed” talks with a prospective investor over a “potential agreement.” The identity of the investor was not disclosed.

The report warned, however, that it is “unlikely” that the financing will be enough to fully cover the cash owed to AITA Films’ creditors. This was a change of position from July, when administrators said they expected “all creditors will be paid in full.”

Should the financing materialize, Kallis Insolvency Practitioners will write to creditors setting out repayment details. Creditors will then vote on whether to accept the arrangement, with a majority of 75% required to stop AITA Films going bust.

Cast members are owed at least £374,649, while “trade and expense” creditors are out of pocket by £1.39M, which likely includes studio spaces, including Versa and Twickenham Film Studios. Deadline has previously reported that crew members are owed at least £600,000 in wages.

AITA Films was founded by Rob Sorrenti, director of Angels in the Asylum. He also served as producer alongside Heather Greenwood, who co-produced Gavin & Stacey: The Finale. Sorrenti and Greenwood did not respond to a request for comment. They have previously apologized to angry crew, adding: “It was never what we could possibly have imagined when we started this journey.”

Pegg is an executive producer on Angels in the Asylum, though he was not involved in the film’s finances and has not been paid for his work to date. The Crown director Steven Daldry is also an executive producer.

Among the creditors are Brandhouse Global Limited, which provided £486,966 in interim financing after “anticipated funding from Parkland Pictures did not materialise,” per a July report by administrators. Parkland CEO John Cairns has previously told Deadline that his company had no agreement to finance Angels in the Asylum beyond its work as a sales agent.

Inspired by true events, Angels in the Asylum co-stars Minnie Driver, Lesley Nicol, Rose Williams, Aurora Perrineau, and Alex Jennings. It centers on women who were forcibly confined in isolation at Surrey’s Long Grove Asylum in the 1930s after being deemed to be typhoid carriers.