It’s been a while since we had a good old-fashioned ghost story; “The Orphanage,” probably the best recent example of the genre, premiered at Cannes almost exactly three years ago. But, hot on the heels of yesterday’s announcement of the Rebecca Hall/Dominic West chiller “The Awakening” comes the news that Hammer’s version of the Susan Hill novel “The Woman In Black,” currently being shopped at Cannes, has completed financing, with Canada’s Alliance Films putting up the rest of the budget. The company’s distribution arms in the U.K, Spain and Canada will release the film.
As previously revealed, the film, which will pointlessly be released in 3D, has been written by Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn’s writing partner on “Kick-Ass” and the upcoming “X-Men: First Class,” and will be directed by James Watkins, who was behind the excellent British horror film “Eden Lake.” The plot revolves around Arthur Kipps, a lawyer who encounters a malevolent spirit in a remote English village. On the back of the project getting the green-light, The Playlist has received some information on who might be taking the lead role.
According to our source, Colin Farrell and Michael Fassbender were, at least a few weeks ago, the leading contenders to play Kipps, but with Farrell signing on to “Horrible Bosses” and “Fright Night” this week, it looks like he may be too busy for the shoot, which is expected to kick off in the fall. Between this, and Fassbender having worked with Watkins previously on “Eden Lake,” it seems like the Irish-German actor is the front-runner; although plenty of people are fantasy casting the actor as Magneto in Vaughn’s “X-Men” prequel, he doesn’t have anything officially lined up once he completes David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method.”
There may be other actors in the running, and it’s possible that Farrell may find room on his dance card, but if Fassbender does take the role, it’s another promising attachment to what already looked to be a project with a lot of potential.
