Filmmaking collective Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream, Abigail) are set to direct an upcoming feature focusing on paranormal broadcaster DJ Art Bell, with and Academy Award-nominated star Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) set to lead, Deadline reports today.
Producing the as-of-now-untitled feature, described as a cross between Moonlighting and Kolchak: the Night Stalker, are Sophie Cassidy, head of 2.0 Entertainment, and Jeff Katz, both of whom began chasing rights for the project after working together on The Pope’s Exorcist.
Amazon and Warner Bros. are said to have both put bids in for a pitch on the package, which also includes Bell's autobiography,The Art of Talk. Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves (Sleepy Hollow) are handling the script.
Bell was most famously host of Coast to Coast AM, created in 1988, a show where guests call in to report paranormal or otherworldly experiences, with millions of listeners tuning in during the 1990s. His later career included shows like Art Bell's Dark Matter, and Midnight in the Desert, which he hosted before passing away in 2018.
Deadline reports that, thanks to Katz's efforts working with Bell's hometown of Pahrump, NV and his loved ones, the film has the full support of Bell's family and his business partner Karen Jackson, who will “be the catalyst of the film, making full use of Bell’s legendary role as ground zero for paranormal broadcasts, thriving discussions and reporting on weird, wonderful and unexplained phenomena.”
Giamatti, who himself hosts a podcast show called CHINWAG alongside philosopher Stephen Asma, has been itching to get more horror into his filmography, and is set to lead an upcoming Hostel television series. While the upcoming project doesn't sound like it'll be explicitly a horror movie, the topics discussed on Bell's radio shows certainly fit the bill.
Look out for more on this exciting project as we get it!
