Pair rushes to 'Crush'

Whannell Balfe "Saw" star Leigh Whannell and Caitriona Balfe have signed onto complete the cast of Smart Pictures' thriller "Crush," which begins principal photography now in La.Malik Bader is pointing from the script by Sonny Mallhi ("The Roommate"). Lucas Till ("X-Males: Top ClassInch) stars alongside Sarah Bolger, Very Reed, Reid Ewing and Camille Guaty.Till plays a star senior high school athlete who becomes the main focus of the secret admirer's obsession. He soon finds out the innocent crush has switched harmful and deadly. Whannell will have who owns a nearby yogurt shop, while Balfe will have who owns a comic store where Reed works.Smart is fully financing the pic, that is being created by its principals Trevor Macy and Marc D. Evans. Mallhi will professional produce with Intrepid's Anil Kurian. Glen Basner's FilmNation will handle worldwide sales, that will commence throughout next week's AFM. U.S. distribution privileges continue to be available.Whannell, who co-produced Lionsgate's boffo "Saw" franchise, most lately authored and co-starred in James Wan's "Insidious," that has made $92 million worldwide on the tiny production budget.Balfe lately made an appearance in J.J. Abrams' "Super 8." Thesp will next be observed in Bryan Singer's sci-fi web series "H+" and "Town of Jerks" alongside Kelly Blatz and Joelle Carter.Whannell is repped by Paradigm and Stacey Testro Worldwide, while WME and Patty Woo Management repetition Balfe. Contact Shaun Sneider at shaun.sneider@variety.com