‘Outer Banks’ Star Chase Stokes, Sydney Taylor Set For YA Romance ‘Marked Men’ From Nick Cassavetes

EXCLUSIVEChase Stokes (Outer Banks) and Sydney Taylor (American Born Chinese) are set to topline the YA romance Marked Men from director Nick Cassavetes(The Notebook).

The film written by Sharon Soboil (After We Fell) is based on the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel Rule by Jay Crownover — the first in her hit series Marked Men, which has been translated into 11 languages. It’s being sold worldwide by Voltage Pictures, which is currently placing it before buyers.

Taylor stars as Shaw Landon, who has loved Rule Archer (Stokes) from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule, a fiery-tempered rebel tattoo artist, doesn’t have time for a good girl pre-med student like Shaw – even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule must figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love…or each other.

Marked Men is one of a number of YA features to be sold by Voltage Pictures since its work on the hit After franchise, based on the books by Anna Todd. Others include the romance Finding You, starring Katherine McNamara, Tom Everett Scott and Vanessa Redgrave; Time Is Up, with Bella Thorne and Benjamin Mascolo; the starry Words on Bathroom Walls, with Charlie Plummer and many more; Beautiful Disaster, starring Dylan Sprouse, Virginia Gardner, Austin North and Libe Barer, and its upcoming sequel, Beautiful Wedding.

Pic’s cast will also include Ella Balinska (Charlie’s Angels), Evan Mock (Gossip Girl), Alexander Ludwig (The Hunger Games), Natalie Alyn Lind (Big Sky), Matthew Noszka (Let it Snow), Hannah Kepple (Cobra Kai), Daisy Jelley (How to Date Billy Walsh), Michael Bradway (Piece), Adam Abbou (Time), Inanna Sarkis (After We Collided), Paul Johansson (God Is a Bullet), Tonya Cornelisse (Yellowjackets) and Nancy De Mayo (Welcome to Chippendales).

Jennifer Gibgot, Brian Pitt, Josh Kesselman and J.B. Sugar will produce, with Andrew Panay, Ryan Westheimer and Hallie Kesselman among those serving as exec producers. 

“We’ve already had immense success in the YA adaptation space but bringing Jay’s bestselling “Marked Men” series to screens is our most ambitious and promising franchise yet,” said Voltage Pictures’ President and CEO, Jonatha Deckter. “Nick’s expert direction, the talented cast’s 40+ million social media following, and the massive fanbase of Jay’s six novel series make this one of the hottest titles in the market and beyond.”

Cassavetes is best known for his feature adaptation of the beloved Nicholas Sparks romance The Notebook, starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. He also wrote and directed the family drama My Sister’s Keeper, starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin, and helmed the hit comedy The Other Woman, also starring Diaz alongside Leslie Mann and Kate Upton. 

Stokes currently stars in the hit YA series Outer Banks, which secured the number one spot in Nielsen streaming rankings when it returned for its second season and is back for its third on February 23. He recently wrapped production the Steve Barnett-helmed thriller Valiant One from Monarch Media and will next appear alongside Joey King in the McG-directed Netflix fantasy film Uglies, based on Scott Westerfeld’s same-name international bestseller. He’s also been tapped for a lead role in the upcoming feature Music Got Me Here, which Gurinder Chadha is directing from a script by Academy Award winner Irwin Winkler and Jose Ruisanchez. 

Taylor previously starred in Just Add Magic: Mystery City — Prime Video’s follow-up to its most successful original kids series, Just Add Magic. Also coming up for her is the series American Born Chinese, featuring the Oscar-nominated Everything Everywhere All At Once duo of Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan. That action-comedy, based on the same-name graphic novel Gene Luen Yang, bows on Disney+ this year.

Other notable book series from Crownover include The Saints of DenverThe PointBreaking PointGetawayLoveless, Texas and Forever Marked.

Cassavetes is represented by WME, manager Chuck Pacheco and Yorn, Levine, Barnes; Soboil by Thruline Entertainment and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; Stokes by UTA, People Store, Luber Roklin Entertainment and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; and Taylor by Coast to Coast Talent Group, Luber Roklin Entertainment, Protégé Entertainment and Schreck Rose Dapello.

Balinska is repped by the UK’s Identity Agency Group, UTA and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; Mock by Canopy Media Partners and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Ludwig by WME and Untitled Entertainment; Lind by CAA and Brecheen Feldman Breimer; Noszka by Gersh, manager Luke Simone and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Kepple by Hyperion, Mgmt Entertainment and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; Jelley by Olivia Bell Management in the UK and Silver Lining Entertainment; Bradway by Luber Roklin Entertainment; Abbou by the UK’s Red Door Actors Management and Scream Management; Sarkis by UTA, Entertainment 360 and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Johansson by Mavrick Artists Agency, Toronto’s Edna Talent Management and Lucas Talent, and Gilbertson Entertainment; Cornelisse by Stewart Talent, the UK’s Felix de Wolfe and Vanguard Management Group; and De Mayo by Aqua Talent Agency and People Store.