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.
The filmmakers behind Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey are expanding their public domain horror universe with a handful of upcoming “Poohniverse” movies, including Bambi: The Reckoning, Pinocchio: Unstrung, and Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare.
Variety has scored the first image from Neverland Nightmare, seen above.
The website details, “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare follows Wendy Darling as she strikes out in an attempt to rescue her brother Michael from ‘the clutches of the evil Peter Pan.’ Along the way she meets Tinkerbell, who in this twisted version of the story will be seen taking heroine, convinced that it’s pixie dust.”
Scott Jeffrey will direct Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, expected Halloween 2024.
Jeffrey tells us, “I am taking inspiration from French cinema while in prep for this movie. The film will be incredibly tense. I would say it’s a mesh between Switchblade Romance and The Black Phone with our own spin on it. It is a nasty, violent and incredibly dark movie.”
Megan Placito has joined the cast as Wendy Darling, Kit Green is Tinkerbell, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney (The Pope’s Exorcist) is Michael Darling and Charity Kase (RuPaul Drag Race) is James. Martin Portlock will be playing the twisted version of Peter Pan.
Created by J.M. Barrie way back in 1902, the character of Peter Pan – like Winnie the Pooh – is in the public domain, even if the iconic Disney iteration of the character is very much not.
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