Vincenzo Natali, the brilliant director behind CUBE, SPLICE, and HAUNTER (not to mention episodes of NBC's "Hannibal" and Netflix's "Hemlock Grove) is set to bring us an adaptation of Stephen King and Joe Hill's novella IN THE TALL GRASS, which will be kicking off pre-sales in Cannes next week, according to Screen Daily.
Natali adapted the screenplay from the novella by Stephen King and Joe Hill, which first appeared as a story in Esquire. Paradigm represents US rights to the project.
Steve Hoban of Copperheart, which is producing in association with Mosaic Media, serves as producer and Gloria Fan is executive producer. Principal photography is scheduled for September in the Toronto area.
IN THE TALL GRASS begins with…
…a sister and brother who pull off to the side of the road after hearing a young boy crying for help from beyond the tall grass. Within minutes they are disoriented, in deeper than seems possible, and they’ve lost one another. The boy’s cries are more and more desperate. What follows is a terrifying, entertaining, and masterfully told tale, as only Stephen King and Joe Hill can deliver.
Referring to the protagonists’ ill-fated rescue attempt, Natali said…
“When they go to assist the boy, they discover that strange forces are at work. Space is warped so that one minute they are together and the next they are miles apart. The field is an ineffable maze from which there is no escape. Before long they have lost their bearings and each other. But they are not alone…”
I'm stoked for this one. I think Natali is a great director, and working from a story by the Master of Horror Stephen King and Joe Hill (HORNS) I expect this one to be a pretty solid genre offering.
More on this one soon.