As writer Steve Niles tweeted recently, “Haley Joel Osment sees dead people again, but this time in pieces.” There are multiple Frankenstein-themed projects in development right now with different studios but this one has just nabbed The Sixth Sense star.
According to Variety, Haley Joel Osment (Sassy Pants, AI) will star as Victor Franklin in a film adaptation of Steve Niles’ (30 Days of Night) graphic novels, Wake The Dead. This modern day Frankenstein tale follows Victor, “a college student experimenting with reversing death.”
Jay Russell (Ladder 49, Tuck Everlasting) will direct the film with a script he adapted along with James V. Hart (Tuck Everlasting, Bram Stokers’ Dracula). Slash, former lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses, will be producing the project with Michael Williams and Rob Eric of Slasher Films, Slash’s production company dedicated to horror films. Ray Mansfield and Shaun Redick will executive produce.
Other Frankenstein-related projects being developed around Tinseltown include:
- Guillermo del Toro’s reimaging of the classic horror tale with Universal,
- Ghost House Pictures and RT Features’ adaptation of Peter Ackroyd‘s novel The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein with Timur Bekmambetov helming this prequel
- Summit Entertaiment’s prequel This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein adapted from Kenneth Oppel’s novel
- Lakeshore Entertainment’s I, Frankenstein, a modern take on the classic story with Stuart Beattie as writer and director,
- Dean Koontz’s adaptation of his modern take Frankenstein: Prodigal Son,
- 20th Century’s untitled Frankenstein film,
- Sony’s untitled modernized Frankenstein film with Craig Fernandez’s script,
- Fox‘s untitled Frankenstein film
- Tim Burton’s stop motion Frankenweenie.
Production on Wake the Dead commences this fall, a release date has not been announced.
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