Jeffrey Dean Morgan has signed on to star in writer/director Evan Spiliotopoulos' SHRINE, which is being produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert through their company Ghost House. This is Morgan's second time working with Ghost House – seven years ago he starred in their film THE POSSESSION.
Genre fans may also know Morgan from his roles on The Walking Dead and Supernatural.
SHRINE is set up at Screen Gems. Scott Strauss and Michael Bitar are overseeing the project for Screen Gems, while Romel Adam oversees for Ghost House.
Based on a 1983 novel James Herbert (you can buy a copy HERE), SHRINE follows
a disgraced journalist who discovers a series of seemingly divine miracles in a small New England town and uses them to resurrect his career, but the ‘miracles’ may have a much darker source.
A description of Herbert's novel gives an idea of the sort of miracles the journalist will be looking into:
A deaf-mute little girl called Alice has a vision — a lady in shimmering white who says she is the immaculate conception. Suddenly, Alice can hear, speak, and perform miracles. Soon the site of Alice's visitation, beneath an ancient oak tree, becomes a shrine, a holy place for thousands of pilgrims. But Alice is no longer the guileless child overwhelmed by her new saintliness. She has become the agent of something corrupt, a vile force that is centuries old.
It will still be a while before we get to see SHRINE, as filming isn't expected to begin until February.