This writer will admit it. He’s never seen one of the “Saw” films (no interest), and he’s never seen a film directed by Malaysian-born Australian director/writer James Wan.
We’ll try not to talk out of our ass here, but Wan’s pictures ,”Dead Silence” and “Death Sentence” but don’t really seem like our thing (though we shouldn’t speak for all Playlist writers, some may enjoy him, just as many of us are torn over Neil Marshall’s schlocky B-work).
Anywhoo, his next project will be the film adaptation of Scott O. Brown’s prison-based graphic novel, “Nightfall,” that includes vampires (natch) with art by Ferran Xalabarder. Here’s the synopsis.
When industrious, right-wing survivalist David Paxton is sent to a tough Texas prison, he has no idea that it’s secretly run by vampires using the inmates to feed on. Now, Paxton’s one hope of escape is a desperate prison riot and an uneasy alliance with a ruthless killer named Robbart.
“The minute I heard the concept, I was in,” Wan told Deadline. “Reading the graphic novel cemented that like ‘Saw,’ it’s a simple concept that, if executed properly, will be so cool.”
A co-production between Scott Mitchell Rosenberg’s Platinum Studios and William Stuart’s Aurora Productions, there’s minor hope here since Platinum produced “Cowboys & Aliens” (though yeah, that one could easily turn out to be “Wild Wild West,” let’s hope not). Wan was once attached to direct a live-action version of the Konami video game “Castlevania,” which was once canceled as a project in 2009, but then revived a few months later when it was announced that Wan would write and direct, but there’s been very little info since (and to confuse matters more, in November 2009, it was reported that Paul W.S Anderson was possibly returning to the director’s chair). His upcoming film, “Insidious,” will play the Midnight Madness section of the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (natch) and Wan was also once considered for “The Green Hornet” before Michel Gondry got the gig.
