By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Following the critical, Academy Awards and box-office success of THE SHAPE OF WATER, Guillermo del Toro has pacted to write, direct and/or produce more live-action features for Fox Searchlight Pictures, and the first of the latter has been revealed.
Variety reports that del Toro has signed an overall deal with Fox Searchlight, which is also creating a new banner (name to be announced soon) under which to release horror, sci-fi and fantasy features, including del Toro’s. “For the longest time, I’ve hoped to find an environment in which I can distribute, nurture, and produce new voices in smart, inventive genre films and channel my own,” del Toro says. “In Fox Searchlight, I’ve found a real home for live-action production—a partnership based on hard work, understanding of each other and, above all, faith. After the wonderful experience I had with Fox Searchlight on THE SHAPE OF WATER, I am honored to have the opportunity to continue the relationship.”
The first movie to roll will be ANTLERS, which del Toro will produce with David S. Goyer and J. Miles Dale. Scott Cooper (BLACK MASS, HOSTILES) will direct from a script by Nick Antosca (creator of Syfy’s CHANNEL ZERO) and Henry Chaisson, from Antosca’s short story “The Quiet Boy.” The plot concerns an elementary-school teacher who takes in a student whose father and younger brother have a dangerous supernatural secret; she then faces a horrific fight for survival.
