Matt Smith to Play Charles Manson in Charlie Says

Matt Smith is going from the Doctor to the Cult Leader. Smith, best known for his role as the Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who, will play Charles Manson in the new film Charlie Says per THR. The film is directed by Mary Harron (American Psycho) and will also star Suki Waterhouse, Hannah Murray, Odessa Young, Marianne Rendon, Carla Gugino, Kaylie Carter and Merritt Wever.

The film focuses on the three women – Patricia Krenwinkle, Susan Atkins and Leslie Van Houten — who were sentenced to death in for the Tate-LaBianca murders. Rendon, Murray, and Young will play the three. Their sentences were eventually commuted to life imprisonment. Wever plays Karlene Faith, a young graduate student who was sent to teach them. Karlene, the film follows the three women’s transformations as they face the reality of their crimes.

Guinevere Turner wrote the screenplay based on source material from Ed Sanders’ book The Family and Faith’s book The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten. The film shoots in LA this spring.