Film project auctions are some of the more interesting deals made in Hollywood, as you’ll see studios/streamers throwing around a lot of money to outbid each other if there is intense competition. Netflix, of course, has plenty of original movies cooking at any moment. However, they are still always putting out feelers to find just the right thing that could help coax considerable talent to attach themselves to support the marketing of it. A report from Deadline reveals that the streaming giant is closing in on a big deal to secure the film rights to a short story from Chris Hicks called “I Am Not Alone,” beating out its main rival Warner Bros. with a six-figure deal to outright buy the material. They’ve also nabbed quite the talent to turn the 22-page short story into a feature film with mid-seven figures pledged.
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The grounded sci-fi horror movie not only landed at Netflix, but the streamer is in the middle of closing on deals to enlist Oscar-winning actress Jessica Chastain (“It Chapter Two”) as the lead with Misha Green (“Lovecraft Country”) set to write/direct. The pair will also take producing roles. “I Am Not Alone” will focus on the mother of a young daughter that begins to suffer from unbearable migraines that leads her to hallucinate and see creatures. The mother is now forced to defend her family from these growing threats from creatures that only she can see.
Simon Kinberg, who has previously worked with Chastain on “X-Men: Dark Phoenix” and “The 355,” is mentioned as being part of the producing team via his production company Genre Films.
“I’m a massive fan of Misha’s work and been friends with [ Circuses Entertainment producer] Craig Flores for years, so when I got sent this story and heard they were involved, I absolutely flipped out. Misha’s vision for it is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. And getting to work with Jessica again makes it even dreamer,” Kinberg said in a statement.
Chastain is still riding high after she won the Best Actress award at last year’s Oscars ceremony for the portrayal of Tammy Faye in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and is no stranger to genre projects, so it seemingly feels like an excellent pairing, given Green’s interest in blending genres together. The actress had been long-attached to co-star with Jake Gyllenhaal in a film feature adaptation of Tom Clancy’s “The Division,” a popular video game set after a major viral outbreak that has decimated the U.S. population and had Rawson Marshall Thurber (“Red Notice”) as the recent filmmaker hired by Netflix to direct after David Leitch (“The Fall Guy”) exited.