“The Ward” is an intense psychological thriller set in a mental institution where a young woman, Kristen, is haunted by a mysterious and deadly ghost. As danger creeps closer, she comes to realize that this ghost might be darker than she could have imagined. Kristen, who is in her early 20′s, wakes to find herself bruised, cut, drugged and held against her will in a remote ward of Chamberlain Psychiatric Hospital. She is completely disoriented with no idea why she was brought to this place and no memory of her life. The other patients in the ward, four equally troubled girls, offer no answers, and Kristen quickly realizes things are not as they seem. The air is heavy with secrets, and at night, when the hospital is dark and foreboding, she hears strange and disturbing sounds. It appears they are not alone. One by one the girls disappear, and Kristen must find a way out of this hellish place before the ghost comes for her, too. As she struggles to escape, she will uncover a truth far more dangerous and horrifying than anyone could have imagined.

There’s more information on “The Ward”, this time revealed by Mamie’s mother, Meryl Streep, during her recent appearance on the French talkshow “Le Grand Journal”. She might be telling a bit too much for those who don’t want to be spoiled – so in case you’re interested to read her quote, jump after the cut. Read full story »

This is an excerpt from below’s Gothamist interview, but since Mamie’s talking very in-depth about working on the upcoming “The Ward”, it’s worth to be pointed at with an extra update.

I get to play “crazy”. It’s been actually really fun and John is so calm and good humored about everything. It’s quite pleasant. I am a total wimp. I can’t ever watch these kinds of movies. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to sit through this without covering my eyes. But working on it, seeing how it’s all done, is really just amusing. The girl playing the ghoul that torments us – her name is Gillian and she is incredibly sweet – it takes her 3 hours to get into makeup. So knowing all that – it’s hard to be affected by it really. The only thing that is truly creepy is our location. That is for real. There is no facade. We’re filming in an honest-to-god insane asylum that is in part still operational. And it’s been there for about 100 years – when it opened it was a “school for the feeble minded. The “campus” is huge. They’ve lost a lot of their state funding and have shut most of it down but in its day it had its own zip code and fire department and dairy. Anyway there was this one building where they housed the really crazy crazies in rooms that were the size of closets – literally. Incredibly depressing. And they did this until the 1960s when the patients staged some sort of riot – and the building was shut down until, that is, they turned it into a primate testing facility and now it’s fallen into total disrepair. That’s where I go everyday.

Article courtesy The Examiner. John Carpenter is filming a new movie in Spokane, Washington as he returns to the horror genre. The film is called The Ward, and will be his first theatrical release since 2001, when he directed Ghosts of Mars. Now he is back with a new film to be shot in several locations within Spokane. The filming schedule for John Carpenter’s The Ward will keep him and his production team in Spokane, Washington from July 27th through September. This will give them plenty of time to work some of the unique John Carpenter ideas into his new film. The Ward doesn’t have a release date scheduled at this time, but that isn’t a surprise in the horror genre. The Ward will probably hit theaters sometime in 2010, and should be well accepted by both fans and critics if it is anything like some of John Carpenter’s past successes. Some of the cast starring in The Ward includes Amber Heard, Danielle Panabaker, Mika Boorem, Mamie Gummer, and Sydney Sweeney. Amber Heard may be recognizable from Pineapple Express and the soon to be released The Stepfather. Danielle Panabaker has been in Mr. Brooks, and Friday the 13th before this film. The plot itself is relatively shrouded in mystery, but the loose synopsis that has been released so far, is that The Ward is about an institutionalized young woman who becomes terrorized by a ghost. The premise should prove to be very interesting if John Carpenter can prove to be as original as he always is with films.

Looks like Mamie will be doing yet another movie. The Internet Movie Database lists a new appearance – in a horror movie! According to the Hollywood Reporter, “The Ward” follows a girl (Amber Heard) who is admitted to a psychiatric ward, meets other girls there with distinct personalities and discovers a mysterious girl haunting the halls at night. Mamie Gummer and Danielle Panabaker are going to co-star. Many thanks to Riikka, webmaster of our new elite affiliate Adoring Amber Heard for the heads-up! :-)