Movies
Guillermo del Toro Isn’t ‘Afraid of the Dark’
Get ready for more horror from Guillermo del Toro as he will be teaming with Miramax Films to produce a remake of the horror-thriller telefilm Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, the specialty distributor’s first big dive into horror filmmaking under president Daniel Battsek. You can read all about it inside.
Comic book artist-writer Troy Nixey will make his feature directorial debut with the adaptation of ABC’s 1973 cult classic.
Canadian Troy Nixey, who’s creepy and fun short, Latchkey’s Lament played last year’s Short Cuts Canada programme at the Toronto International Film Festival (pretty awesome)!
Del Toro is adapting Nigel McKeand’s teleplay with Matthew Robbins, his writing partner on the 1997 horror film “Mimic” for Miramax’s former genre label Dimension.
“Dark” centers on a young girl, sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend, who discovers sinister creatures that live underneath the stairs.
Michael Falbo, Miramax’s director of production and development, will oversee the project for the studio under president of production Keri Putnam.
The film is in its early stages; research and development of the monsters hasn’t begun yet, and other producers might come aboard. Moviegoers can expect an upscale creature feature along the lines of del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth,” with an emphasis on distinctive characters in keeping with the Miramax slate.
Directed by John Newland, the original telefilm (known as “Nightmare” in Europe) gained a cult following through syndication and home video release.
Nixey wrote and directed the 2007 supernatural thriller short “Latchkey’s Lament,” a mix of CGI animation and live action. He has attained cult status for illustrating “Batman” and “Matrix” comics as well as writing and illustrating Dark Horse Comics’ “Trout,” which is in development at Phoenix Pictures.
“It has always been a dream of mine to work on a project with Guillermo, my favorite filmmaker,” Nixey said. “I had no idea it would be on my first one out. Miramax’s faith in me is everything a first-time director could ask for.”
Nixey is one of several emerging filmmakers, including “Orphanage” helmer Juan Antonio Bayona, mentored by del Toro.
Peter McPartlin, vp business affairs and legal, negotiated the deal on behalf of Miramax. Endeavor and Gary Ungar at Exile Entertainment, who rep del Toro and Nixey, negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers. Robbins is repped by the Pitt Group.
Movies
Christopher Landon to Helm Feature Adaptation of Grady Hendrix’s ‘The Final Girl Support Group’
A new feature adaptation of author Grady Hendrix‘s slasher book The Final Girl Support Group is now on the way from Paramount Pictures, and Deadline reports that it’s found its director in Christopher Landon (Drop, Happy Death Day).
The two previously collaborated on My Best Friend’s Exorcism.
In The Final Girl Support Group, “Lynette is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece.”
“But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.”
I wrote in my novel review for BD, “Hendrix puts his characters through the absolute wringer. It’s a bloody, vicious voyage for the flawed heroine, both physically and emotionally. In terms of action and horror, Support Group delivers breakneck pacing and thrills.”
Five years ago, Andy Muschietti & Barbara Muschietti (Mama, It, It Chapter Two) were attached to produce a planned series adaptation for HBO Max alongside Charlize Theron. While Theron is no longer producing, the Muschiettis remain on board under their Double Dream label.
Paramount Pictures is also developing Hendrix’s sci-fi novella, BadAsstronauts.
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