Recently we passed along the badass news that director Robert Zemeckis (BACK TO THE FUTURE Trilogy, CAST AWAY) was going to be helming and penning an all-new live-action adaptation of author Roald Dahl's nightmare-inducing kid-horror novel THE WITCHES. On top of that, there was a rumor circling that Anne Hathaway was going to be playing the Grand High Witch. And today we have confirmation Hathaway has accepted the role.
Angelica Huston starred as the Grand High Witch back in director Nicolas Roeg's 1990 film. That movie was a loose adaptation of the novel, but the plan is for Zemeckis's version to stick closer to the source material. Deadline also reports that Viola Davis (SUICIDE SQUAD) is circling a role as well.
The original film followed this synopsis:
While staying at a hotel in England with his grandmother, Helga (Mai Zetterling), young Luke (Jasen Fisher) inadvertently spies on a convention of witches. The Grand High Witch (Anjelica Huston) reveals a plan to turn all children into mice through a magical formula. When they find that Luke has overheard, the witches test the formula on him. Now, with the help of Helga and the hotel manager, Mr. Stringer (Rowan Atkinson), Luke the mouse must fight back against the witches.
Zemeckis revealed that his version of THE WITCHES will be "set in the Gothic South in the 1960s" and is "an exciting way to put a sociological spin on this kind of witch story." Zemeckis produces with Jack Rapke, Alfonso Cuaron, and Guillermo del Toro. We'll let you know as soon as we hear more. Until then you can go ahead and snag a copy of Dahl's classic book for someone's child you can't stand over on Amazon RIGHT HERE.
