Be afraid! Be Sleight-ly afraid! J.D. Dillard eyes a new The Fly remake
A new take on The Fly is in development at 20th Century Fox. Deadline reports that J.D. Dillard, who makes his feature film directorial debut with next month’s Sleight, is in talks to direct The Fly remake for the studio. Dillard would also provide the screenplay with his writing partner, Alex Theurer.
RELATED: Watch the Sleight Trailer
The Fly, which originally debuted as a short story in the pages of a 1957 issue of Playboy, tells the story of a inventor who, in an attempt to transport matter, winds up merging himself with a common housefly to horrific results. Kurt Neumann wrote and directed Fox’s 1958 adaptation, which was headlined by David Hedison, Patricia Owens and Vincent Price. It received two direct sequels, 1959’s Return of the Fly and 1965’s Curse of the Fly before getting remade by David Cronenberg in 1986. Cronenberg’s The Fly remake stars Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis and won an Academy Award for its unforgettable make-up work. In fact, it was make-up artist Chris Walas who took the director’s chair on 1989’s The Fly II.
Since 1989, The Fly franchise has seen new life as both an opera composed by Howard Shore and as a 2015 comic book miniseries, published by IDW. Titled The Fly: Outbreak, the story continues the world of Cronenberg’s Fly remake.
Dillard’s Sleight, meanwhile, is also co-written with Theurer. The film follows a young street magician who is left to take care of his little sister after his mother’s passing. He turns to drug dealing in the Los Angeles party scene to keep a roof over their heads. When he gets into trouble with his supplier, his sister is kidnapped and he is forced to rely on both his sleight of hand and brilliant mind to save her. Look for it to hit the big screen April 28 through BH Tilt and WWE Studios.
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