Back in 2014, it was announced that Precious and The Butler director Lee Daniels would be shifting over the horror genre to direct an exorcism movie that was being called Demon House at the time. Demon House never went into production, but Daniels has kept busy executive producing multiple TV shows, as well as directing the film The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Now the filmmaker is turning his focus back to his exorcism story, and he’s bringing The United States vs. Billie Holiday star Andra Day along with him. Deadline reports that Netflix has bested six other bidders to win the “Lee Daniels exorcism movie” package, earning the right to make the film by forking over upwards of $65 million.
Day will be starring in the film alongside Octavia Spencer, Glenn Close, Rob Morgan, Caleb McLaughlin, and Aunjanue Ellis – so Daniels has assembled a strong cast for this exorcism tale.
According to Deadline, “Day will play the mother of an Indiana family whose children purportedly became demonically possessed in a thriller inspired by an actual case.”
In a case widely covered at the time, Latoya Ammons and her three children experienced strange incidents in their Gary, IN, home that grew progressively worse, with the children levitating, becoming violent with one another and speaking in growls and deep voices with no recollection afterward. Skeptics abounded, but the Gary Police Department, Department of Child Services and the local church and hospital all became involved, filing reports that took the supernatural occurrences seriously. Officers, doctors and social workers said they witnessed many of the incidents, including one in which her 9-year-old son walked backward up a wall. The Indianapolis Star covered it closely as the Department of Child Services investigated it.
Some character info: “McLaughlin will play the son of Day’s character, at an older age. Close will play Day’s character’s mother. Morgan will play the boyfriend of Day’s character, and Spencer plays the clergy member who tries to help Day’s character navigate through the hauntings and the exorcisms.”
Drafts of the screenplay were written by both Dave Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum, then Daniels rewrote it himself. Daniels is also producing the film with Tucker Tooley, Pam Williams, Todd Crites, and Jackson Nguyen. Greg Renker and Gregoire Gensollen are executive producing.
I’m not big on exorcism movies in general, but I’m definitely going to have to watch this one when it reaches the Netflix streaming service.