Leprechaun reimagining director aiming to make something that’s gory, sexy, crazy, and elevated

Nine months have gone by since Lionsgate announced that they were moving forward with a Leprechaun “reimagining” that had Felipe Vargas, director of the award-winning short film Milk Teeth, on board to direct. During a new interview with Splattercast, Vargas confirmed that the reimagining is still in development, and that he’s hoping to do something gory, sexy, crazy, and elevated with this property.

Vargas told Splattercast (with thanks to our friends at Bloody Disgusting for the transcription), “I’m so honored to be on that project. It’s such a cool franchise. To me what makes the franchise so special is that it really is limitless. It doesn’t need to be grounded. It can just be gory, sexy, crazy.” He said that they’re still figuring out the tone for this movie and what the balance of horror and comedy will be. “I would love for it to be scary as hell and also hilarious. I think we’re going back to a lot of the roots of Leprechaun in a lot of different ways, which I’m really excited about. But I think you also want to bring on a new audience. So it’s a really tricky one to figure out.” He went on to say he wants to give the film an “elevated vibe” and that he thinks practical effects are very important for the project.

Mike Van Waes, who wrote the novel Peeves and has worked on the upcoming live-action Lilo & Stitch movie, has written the screenplay for the new Leprechaun. Plot details are being kept under wraps. 

Roy Lee, whose producing credits include Barbarian and the recent It films, is producing the new Leprechaun through his company Vertigo Entertainment, alongside the company’s Miri Yoon. Meredith Wieck and Jon Humphrey are overseeing for Lionsgate.

Since the Leprechaun reimagining announcement was first made, Vargas has been focused on his feature directorial debut, the high concept horror film Rosario. A release date hasn’t been announced for that one, but a first look image can be seen at the bottom of this article.

Are you a fan of the Leprechaun franchise? What do you think of what Felipe Vargas had to say about his reimagining? Let us know by leaving a comment below.