Amanda Jiang Built Her Own Studio Then Cast Herself as the Woman Nobody Let Speak

Amanda Jiang never waited around for someone to hand her a role worth playing. She built the company that made the role exist in the first place.

CITY OF MASKS is a new British gothic romantic thriller inspired by the mythology of The Phantom of the Opera, but with the mysterious musical figure reimagined as a woman. Set around London theatreland, the film blends psychological suspense, obsession, identity and performance ahead of its Halloween 2026 UK and Ireland theatrical release. It’s Starmist Films‘ first production and Starmist is Jiang‘s own company, co-founded with writer-producer Enrico Tessarin.

AMANDA JIANG 

Amanda was a kid from California who started acting at thirteen, cut her teeth in theatre, then moved to the UK in 2015 for Cardiff University and landed her first film role that same year. In 2019 she starred in Duty’s Veil, playing an American detective with a dark past starting over on unfamiliar ground, a role that picked up award recognition on the festival circuit. Somewhere along the way she decided to build the thing herself rather than wait for someone else to offer it to her.

MADELINA BELLARIU ION

Gaston Leroux wrote a story about a man behind a mask obsessing over a woman’s voice, controlling her from the shadows. Jiang plays Eve, a composer hiding her identity while orchestrating the rise of an ambitious young actor, caught inside a story about a director who silenced her once and is now watching her take her voice back. She wrote the melody this time. She’s wearing the mask. She’s the one settling the score.

CHARLIE GODDARD

Andrea M. Catinella, who directed Piglet, takes the helm here, working from a script by Enrico Tessarin, whose earlier writing credit The Habit of Beauty already showed a fascination with obsession and appearance as psychological weapons. The cast around Jiang is stacked, Charlie Goddard from Barbie as rising actor Christian, Deano Bugatti Mitchison from EastEnders as theatre director Victor, fighting to keep the past buried, Kay Boggett from Tapped, Madalina Bellariu Ion from The Young Pope and former Sky Sports presenter Charlotte Jackson Coleman, now of Silent Witness rounding out the ensemble.

CHARLOTTE JACKSON COLEMAN

What I find genuinely interesting about the production model behind this. CITY OF MASKS is the first film out of Starmist’s Pegasus Fund, developed simultaneously as a theatrical feature and a premium vertical series, built to live in cinemas and on the platforms where audiences increasingly actually watch things. Jiang and Tessarin are shaping a studio around how people watch now.

KAY BOGGETT

Clare and Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe joined as executive producers after principal photography wrapped, with Clare, BUFF Studios‘ Head of Marketing and Strategy, “calling it a bold British gothic thriller” with “striking visual ambition.” Tessarin has described the launch as the start of Starmist‘s ambition to build distinctly British films with genuine global reach, with the Pegasus Fund backing a wider slate of features and international co-productions still to come.

DEANO BUGATTI MITCHISON

A woman finally seizing control of her own narrative, produced by the actress who plays her, through a company she built specifically so that story could exist on her own terms. This is the film, made real before a single frame was shot.

CITY OF MASKS arrives in UK and Ireland cinemas ahead of Halloween 2026, with full release details still to be confirmed.

INTERVIEW

Cheryl: You co-founded Starmist specifically to make films like this, then cast yourself as a woman whose voice gets taken and reclaimed. Did playing Eve feel different knowing you’d built the company that made her possible, versus if you’d just been handed the role by someone else?

Amanda Jiang: “Yes, I co-founded Starmist because I wanted to tell stories that take classic material and reimagine it in a way that feels fresh, contemporary, and relevant to today’s audiences.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that playing Eve felt different simply because I had co-founded the company that made the film. What made it particularly personal was that elements of my own life were woven into Eve’s backstory. Because of that, I found myself connecting with her on a very deep level and understanding certain aspects of her journey in a way that felt incredibly intimate.

Eve became a character I hold very close to my heart. There was something deeply meaningful about not only having the opportunity to play her, but also helping to create the film that gave her a voice and allowed her story to be told. I feel incredibly honored to have been able to bring her to life.”

Cheryl: Eve hides behind a mask for most of this story. Was there a moment on set where the mask itself changed how you physically performed, made you move or speak differently than you would with your face fully visible?

Amanda Jiang:“I definitely believe the mask influenced my performance as Eve. For me, it represents much more than simply hiding her face; it is Eve’s shield against both her physical and emotional wounds. After everything she has endured, the mask allows her to protect herself from anything that might hurt her again.

Throughout the shoot, wearing it was a constant reminder to be more restrained and deliberate in the way I moved and spoke. It naturally made me more reserved and helped me embody Eve’s mysterious, guarded, and somewhat aloof nature. There was always a sense that she was keeping a part of herself hidden from the world.

That’s why the moments when Eve does remove her mask felt particularly significant. They became opportunities for her to reveal emotions that she normally keeps buried. With Victor, we see the depth of her sadness and hatred, whereas with Christian, the mask coming off allows us to see her vulnerability, tenderness, and ultimately her capacity to love again. In those moments, removing the mask becomes almost symbolic of Eve lowering the emotional walls she has built around herself.”

Cheryl: You started acting at 13 in California and ended up building a British production company in your 30’s. What’s one instinct from those very early theatre years that you still catch yourself using on a film set nearly two decades later?

Amanda Jiang: “One instinct I’ve carried with me from my very early years in theatre is the importance of truly listening to and reacting to my scene partner. That was essential on stage, but I think it becomes even more important when you’re working in front of a camera.”

With screen acting, so much can be communicated through the smallest details, a look, a breath, a subtle change in expression. The camera can pick up on those micro-shifts in emotion, so you have to be completely present and genuinely take in what your scene partner is giving you. For me, that instinct to really listen, rather than simply waiting for my cue to speak, is something that has stayed with me throughout my career. It’s about allowing yourself to be affected by the other actor in the moment, and trusting that the camera will capture that truth.”

Cheryl: CITY OF MASKS was built to work as both a cinema release and a vertical series from day one. Did you perform any scenes differently knowing they might eventually live on a phone screen rather than a cinema screen?

Amanda Jiang:  “Although City of Masks was designed from the outset to work both as a feature film and as a vertical series, throughout the shoot, the cast and crew remained primarily focused on making the strongest feature film possible.
Our priority was to take a classic story and create a sophisticated, contemporary adaptation that felt cinematic and timeless, rather than leaning into some of the more heightened or exaggerated conventions that are often associated with vertical storytelling. Because of that, I didn’t approach the performances differently based on the eventual format. We were always thinking about the characters, the story, and the emotional truth of each scene first.
For us, City of Masks is a feature film first and foremost, with the vertical series being a premium secondary format. We wanted to make sure that, regardless of how audiences ultimately experience it, on a cinema screen or on a phone, the story and performances remain compelling and emotionally engaging.

Cheryl: Gaston Leroux wrote a story about a man silencing a woman by controlling her voice. What’s the one line or scene in your script that most directly answers him back, the moment you’d point to and say, that’s Eve taking it from him?

Amanda Jiang: “I think the scene where Eve instructs Christian on how to find her lair is one of the clearest moments where she begins to take back control of her own story. When Christian enters her lair, she is no longer allowing Victor, or anyone else, to silence her. She has spent years having her voice, her music, and even her life taken from her, and this is the moment where she decides that her work will be heard again.

The line, “The theatre only remembers those who command it,” really captures that determination. Eve is making it clear that she intends for her talent and her music to leave a lasting mark on the theatre, even if Victor tried to erase her from its history.

She then gives Christian a piece of her music and instructs him to perform it at the rehearsal the following day. In doing so, she is not simply giving him a song, she is giving him her voice. She is using Christian as the means through which her music can finally be heard again, and that sets her plan for reclaiming her work and getting the justice she deserves into motion. For me, that is Eve answering back: you may have taken my voice once, but you cannot stop me from being heard.”