Woolley’s Expectations

Maverick producer Stephen Woolley has been a staple of British cinema for the last 20 years, whether it be B-type cult classics (HARDWARE), indie phenomenons (THE CRYING GAME) or downright big-budget spectacles (INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE). His next project will be uinsg a word that has also been around much the last 2 decades, maybe too much – Re-imagining.

Woolley is prepping a new feature film version of the classic Dickens tale GREAT EXPECTATIONS, but that one with a dark and creepy tone. According to Screen Daily, the producer intends to mount a Gothic vision of the story that is shrouded with “elements of suspense and terror”.

Coming from anybody else OR from a major studio, I’d be quick to dismiss and ignore it, being the umpteenth adaptation of the story. But coming as an indie project from a producer who made an entire generation of guys gasp in horror when Jay Davidson’s “secret” was “revealed” in CRYING GAME, I’ll take a moment’s pause and allow myself to be curious.