Laysla De Oliveira and Riccardo Scamarcio have wrapped filming on Telephone, an independent science fiction thriller directed by Anthony Scott Burns and shot in Sudbury, Ontario. The film follows a woman forced to travel back in time to change the future, only to face a difficult choice between saving humanity and preventing a personal tragedy. Gale Anne Hurd, the producer behind The Terminator, Aliens and The Walking Dead, is among the film’s executive producers.
At the centre of Telephone is Sandy, a woman reeling from an unexpected loss when her mysterious neighbours abduct her and tell her she must travel back in time to save the future. Once she reaches the past, however, Sandy discovers that carrying out the mission will be far more complicated than she anticipated.
Sandy must decide whether to trust the strangers who insist their plan is necessary to save humanity or follow another time traveller who offers her the chance to prevent the tragedy that changed her life. Her decision places her between a responsibility that could affect countless lives and a deeply personal desire to alter her own past.
The premise combines time travel and suspense with an emotional conflict centred on loss, trust and the consequences of changing history. Sandy’s choices could determine not only what happens to the future but also what she is willing to sacrifice to undo the events that shaped her life.
De Oliveira, who plays Sandy, is known for her performances in Paramount+’s spy thriller Lioness and Netflix’s fantasy horror series Locke & Key. In Telephone, she takes on a central role in a story that explores the emotional consequences of loss alongside the possibilities and risks of time travel.
She stars opposite Scamarcio, the Italian actor whose international credits include A Haunting in Venice and John Wick: Chapter 2. The film also features Rohan Campbell, known for The Monkey; Tenika Davis, who appears in Spartacus: House of Ashur; and Michael Greyeyes, whose credits include Blood Quantum. The ensemble brings together performers with experience across thriller, horror and action projects, complementing the film’s combination of speculative science fiction and suspense.
One of the most prominent names attached to the production is executive producer Gale Anne Hurd. Her credits include James Cameron’s science fiction films The Terminator and Aliens, as well as the television series The Walking Dead. Her involvement connects the independent thriller to a body of genre work that has explored survival, dangerous technologies and humanity under extreme pressure.
For Telephone, the central conflict is more personal: how far should someone go to change the past when the consequences could extend far beyond their own life? The story places Sandy’s desire to prevent a personal tragedy against the possibility that altering events could affect countless others.
Burns directs the film and revised the screenplay originally written by Jack Stanley. The project is backed by Valhalla Entertainment, Beyond the Frame and 10.80 Films.
Principal photography took place in Sudbury, Ontario, with production officially wrapping in October 2026. The completion of filming marks a significant production milestone as Telephone moves towards its next stage.
Bringing together an international cast, a time-travel premise and a creative team with experience in genre cinema, Telephone centres on the tension between personal loss and the wider consequences of changing history. As Sandy confronts the choice before her, the film’s central question is not simply whether the past can be changed, but what she might have to give up to do so.
