When people think of the name Joe Dante, most likely, they think of his work in the ‘80s. Whether it’s “Gremlins”, “Explorers,” “The ‘Burbs,” or maybe even one of his later ‘90s works, like “Small Soldiers.” His career has never really been the same since his heyday in the ‘80s; his most recent work mostly being in television. His last film, “The Hole,” was actually shot in 3D, but more-or-less went straight to DVD. So what’s the deal?
Well, Dante is actually teaming up with Simon Pegg on an adaptation of “Casting the Runes,” the M.R. James ghost story that has been modernized by screenwriter David Tully. Simon Pegg is set to play the lead. Here’s a plot synopsis taken from the film’s website:
When up-and-coming actor Jake Harrington inexplicably hurls himself in front of an oncoming subway train, celebrity gossip blogger Mark Dunning smells a story in Harrington’s connection to self-help guru Simon Karswell. What Dunning isn’t prepared for is the secret behind Karswell’s motivational-speaker success: a command of dark occult forces that reveals his following to be more cult than therapy.
‘Runes’ has been adapted a couple of times for television in the ’60s and ’70s, there have a number of radio productions as well and Jacques Tourneur brought it to the big screen in 1957’s “Night Of The Demon.” But hardly something as starry as Pegg and Dante, a pairing certainly worth looking forward to. Let’s hope the movie winds up being more profile than Joe Dante’s latest work. [Bleeding Cool]
