Jonás Cuarón is preparing for a new film. After co-writing the award-winning “Gravity” with his father Alfonso Cuarón, and directing the underrated thriller “Desierto,” Jonás Cuarón has been tapped to direct an untitled feature film for Netflix about the legendary creature chupacabra. It appears that this will not be a horror movie, but a family film in the vein of “E.T.” and Chris Columbus will be producing it.
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Deadline reports that Cuarón is not only directing but penning the latest draft of the script, which is based on an original script by Marcus Rinehart, Sean Kennedy Moore and Joe Barnathan.
The story follows “a teenager, who while visiting his family in Mexico, gains an unlikely companion when he discovers a young chupacabra hiding in his grandpa’s shed. In order to save the mythical creature, Alex and his cousins must embark on the adventure of a lifetime.”
Right out of the gate, the fact that the original script has not a single Latin American name attached to it, sounds ill-advised. At the very least it’s good to know that Cuarón will be doing some writing of his own. Though chupacabra may not be as big a cultural myth as La Llorona, it is still very much a Latin American legend. That the story is set in Mexico only goes to show how much the film will owe to Latin American sensitivities, and no one wants a repeat of Warner Bros.’ disappointing take of La Llorona.
That being said, it is interesting how much the film seems to be aimed at families, based not only on that story description which resembles Spielberg’s sci-fi tale of a similar unlikely friendship, but Columbus’ involvement with his producing partners Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe at 26th Street Pictures, as Deadline reports.
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Cuarón is quickly building up an impressively diverse portfolio. After co-writing the sci-fi drama “Gravity,” he wrote and directed the thriller “Desierto” about a group of undocumented immigrants being hunted by a relentless killer. Last we heard, Cuarón was also developing a new vision for “Zorro” starring Gael García Bernal and Kiersey Clemons that would take the swashbuckler into the near-future.
