Octavia Spencer to be a part of Ma

Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer is reuniting with The Help director Tate Taylor for Ma - a new film touted to be a combination of a horror and a psychological thriller. Ma will be produced by Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions, the makers of Insidious, The Purge and the Oscar-nominated Get Out. 

"It's dark material, but it's also really fun," Taylor says, adding, "Octavia is so damn likable that we usually see her in certain roles. But she is such a good actor and this is such a complex character that if I do my job right, people in the audience are going to want to push pause and say, ‘Can we please take you out for coffee so you don't do what you're about to do?'"

The film also features Juliette Lewis, an Oscar nominee for Cape Fear, and Luke Evans, last seen in Beauty and the Beast.  

Production on the project will begin in Mississippi next week, with some of the shooting taking place on Taylor's 100-acre spread and Greek Revival mansion. 

Spencer, who formerly lived with Taylor when they were trying to break out in the movie business, will be staying with him. "It's going to be a blast. We'll be living in my house in Mississippi and shooting on my land during the day, and then making dinner and telling stories and breaking bread later that night," adds Taylor.