Principal photography on The Calling, a feature film thriller starring Susan Sarandon, has begun in and around Hamilton, Ont.

The film is based on the Canadian novel of the same name penned by Inger Ash Wolfe. It is directed by Jason Stone (executive producer of This is the End), with a scripted adapted for the screen by Scott Abramovitch. The cast includes Gil Bellows, Ellen Burstyn, Topher Grace, Christopher Heyerdahl and Donald Sutherland.

Sarandon plays detective inspector Hazel Micallef, an aging cop whose quiet small-town life centres on taking care of her aging mother (played by Burstyn). Her life then gets upended when an elderly woman is discovered killed.

The film is executive produced by Abramovitch, Nicholas Tabarrok (Defendor, A Beginner’s Guide to Endings), Lonny Dubrofsky, with Christine Vachon of Killer Films (Mildred Pierce, Boys Don’t Cry) and Jonathan Bronfman of JoBro Productions. Ricky Tollman is co-producer. David Robert Jones (Gay Dude, Tender as Hellfire) is the director of photography.

Produced by Manis Film and Breaking Ball Films in association with Darius Films, Entertainment One has Canadian distribution rights. The Calling received financial support from the Ontario Media Development Corporation.