Shortly after closing a deal to star alongside Oscar Isaac in Moon Knight, Marvel Studios’ series for Disney+, Ethan Hawke (Training Day, The Good Lord Bird) is joining the cast of Scott Derrickson's The Black Phone. This marks another collaboration between the duo after Hawke starred in Sinister, Derrickson's supremely scary 2012 horror film.
Based on a novella by Joe Hill included in his "20th Century Ghosts" story collection, "The Black Phone" follows John Finney, a young boy who finds himself locked in a basement that's stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead.
Derrickson and frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill (Sinister) adapted the script, which has Derrickson, Cargill, and Jason Blum producing. Joe Hill is an executive producer. Previously, we reported that Lost actor Jeremy Davies will also star, as well as Mason Thames (For All Mankind) and Madeleine McGraw (Toy Story 4).
I'm sorry, did you say phone calls from dead children? Who even dreams up this kind of stuff? Oh right, Joe Hill, the son of Stephen King. I suppose that I shouldn't be too surprised that Derrickson, whose previous credits include helming such horror movies as Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and Deliver Us from Evil, would be interested in a project such as this, but still, phone calls from dead kids? Where do you draw the line, Mr. Derrickson? Do you and Joe Hill both need a good hug? I know we're all social-distancing right now but I'm certain that something can be arranged.
Soon, Hawke will star alongside Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgard in Robert Egger’s film The Northman as well as Abel Ferrara’s upcoming film Zeros and Ones. All of this in addition to Marvel's Moon Knight and The Black Phone. It looks like everything is coming up Milhouse for Mr. Hawke, and I'm anxious to check several of these projects out. Let's do this.