Comic book-themed thriller set to shoot in East Sussex

A comic book-themed thriller marks the feature debut of Sussex-raised writer-director Matthew Rowney.

Production will begin this March on The Rebooted, with filming taking place in Ticehurst, East Sussex, on the Downash Woods Estate.

As Matthew says, it will offer a striking and atmospheric UK location to a genre traditionally dominated by large-scale studio productions.

The Rebooted boasts a cast spanning film, television and social media, including Andrew Lee Potts, Roxanne McKee, Stephanie Waring and Amelia Flanagan. They are joined by Martins Imhangbe, best known for his role in Netflix’s Bridgerton. The film also features social media figures Liberty Poole (Love Island) and Dan Spragg, a TikTok creator.

“A comic book thriller with a major narrative twist, The Rebooted explores the increasing influence of artificial intelligence on society while directly engaging with the current conversation around the struggles and evolution of the comic book movie genre. The film aims to deconstruct modern hero mythology, blending grounded suspense with genre commentary,” Matthew said.

The Rebooted is produced by Panchariya Brothers Productions, a newly established UK-based film studio headed by Dev Panchariya.

Writer-director Matthew added: “This story is deeply personal to me, not just as a filmmaker making my first feature, but as someone who grew up loving comic books while watching the world rapidly change around technology. East Sussex felt like the perfect place to bring this story to life.

“The majority of my life I lived in Burgess Hill but I now live in Newhaven with my wife and three children. I've always been Sussex-based and my debut feature was always going to be in Sussex

“I have now been working in film for 15 years, and when AI entered the scene, the chat of a lot of my friends in visual effects was quite nervous about it and what its place was going to be and whether it would replace all of us. But I do think that there will always be room for the creative mind. I don't think you can ever replace that human element. I don't think you will ever replace the creatives.”

But AI provides a context for the film as does Matthew's love of comic books: “I grew up on them. I was a little bit of a rascal and didn’t want to read books and this was a way of getting me to read. I always loved the world-building and the escapism that you get in comic books that you didn't get in other genres.

“And I think over the last 20 years the stereotypical comic book has grown and now if you went to the cinema you would get couples and whole families watching them.

“My children have realigned as well. My oldest son is four and he is going to be in the film towards the end. He loves comic books. And I am always quite selfish in my film-making. It has got to be something that interests me!”

“For me it is a big step-up from the short films. I've done the short films to death and I'm ready to move on to something bigger now.”

Matthew anticipates that post-production will run until the end of August with possibly the first screenings towards the end of this year.