Evil Dead icon Sam Raimi will officially take the directorial reins on Magic, Lionsgate's upcoming remake of Richard Attenborough's 1978 ventriloquist horror movie.
Previously, Raimi had been tapped to produce the pic, with Deadline today revealing that he will also direct in a return to genre following this year's desert-island set thriller Send Help. Mark Swift and Damian Shannon (Freddy vs. Jason, Send Help) are on board for screenplay duties.
Based on the novel by William Goldman, the original Magic starred a pre-Silence of the Lambs Anthony Hopkins as professional ventriloquist Charles “Corky” Withers, who makes it big in professional magic thanks to the help of his foul-mouthed dummy Fats (also voiced by Hopkins), who Corky cannot control. Ann-Margaret, Burgess Meredith and Ed Lauter also starred.
Weapons‘ Roy Lee will produce Magic alongside Raimi, with Chris Hammond, Tim Sullivan and Raimi Productions’ Zainab Azizi also producing. Nathan Kahane and Paul Fishkin will executive produce alongside Andrew Childs for Vertigo.
Adam Fogelson, chair, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, had the following to say about Raimi working his Magic on another horror pic:
“Sam is the dream director for this project—in fact, his coming aboard represents one of the truly great matches of director and material […] The script is fantastic, and we could not be more excited to see Sam’s direction and creative vision take it to another level. We are absolutely thrilled he has chosen to direct the film.”
While we were already onboard for a Raimi-produced Magic, a Raimi-directed one is on a whole other level of excitement. Stay tuned for more as we get it.
