Nearly eight years have gone by since it was first announced that Precious director Lee Daniels would be taking the helm of a exorcism movie that was being referred to as the time as Demon House. Earlier this year, the project – no longer called Demon House – was picked up by the Netflix streaming service for $65 million. Now Variety reports that the movie has a new title, The Deliverance, and Omar Epps (The Devil You Know), Demi Singleton (King Richard), Miss Lawrence (Star), and Anthony B. Jenkins (The Wonder Years) have joined the cast.
Daniels’ The United States vs. Billie Holiday star Andra Day is taking on the lead role of Ebony, “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.
Also in the cast of The Deliverance are Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction), Rob Morgan (Don’t Look Up), Caleb McLaughlin (Stranger Things), and Aunjanue Ellis (Lovecraft Country). Here’s come character information: “McLaughlin will play the son of Ebony, at an older age. Close will play Ebony’s mother. Morgan will play the boyfriend of Ebony. And Smith plays Asia, who is Ebony’s best friend.”
Octavia Spencer had been cast to play a clergy member who tries to help Day’s character navigate through the hauntings and the exorcisms, but she had to drop out of the project and was replaced by Precious‘s Mo’Nique.
Drafts of the screenplay were written by both Dave Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum, then Daniels rewrote it himself. Thomas Westfall also receives a writing credit. Daniels is producing the film with Tucker Tooley, Pam Williams, Todd Crites, and Jackson Nguyen. Greg Renker Hilary Shor, Jackie Shenoo, and Gregoire Gensollen are executive producing.
I’m looking forward to seeing how The Deliverance turns out. Are you interested in this project? Let us know by leaving a comment below.