While screenwriter Peter Filardi works on the Amblin-esque witch film MAGICUS, remakes of both of his 1990s contributions to the horror genre are currently in the works at Sony. HONEYMOON writer/director Leigh Janiak is developing the remake of 1996's THE CRAFT, and Swedish THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO director Niels Arden Oplev is attached to direct a remake of 1990's FLATLINERS.
The FLATLINERS redux just made an important move forward, as Academy Award nominated actress Ellen Page has entered negotiations to star in the film.
Written by Filardi and directed by Joel Schumacher, the original FLATLINERS told the following story:
At University Hospital School of Medicine, a group of ambitious medical students are about to die… and live to describe the experience.
Embarking on a daring and arrogant experiment, the five aim to push through the confines of life and touch the face of death.
In their search for knowledge, however, the five discover the chilling consequences of daring to tamper with immortality.
The five med students in that film were played by Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, Oliver Platt, and William Baldwin, and the casting of Ellen Page would seem to indicate that they'll be going for an impressive cast with this version, too.
Filardi's concept has been updated by screenwriter Ben Ripley, who wrote SOURCE CODE, in addition to the third and fourth SPECIES films.
I always felt that FLATLINERS was an underrated, creepy movie, so I'm interested in seeing a new take on it.