Some of the best filmmakers alive have adapted the works of legendary author Roald Dahl, including Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton and Wes Anderson. Now, three others are joining the list with one movie: Robert Zemeckis, Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron.
Anjelica Huston starred in 1990’s The Witches, which (get it?) is being remade by Robert Zemeckis, Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del ToroPhoto: Warner Bros.
Variety reports that Zemeckis, the Oscar-winning director of Back to the Future and Forrest Gump, is in final negotiations to write and direct The Witches for Warner Bros. It will be produced by Oscar-winning directors Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) and Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water). At one point, del Toro was attached to direct, but now will hand those duties to Zemeckis.
If a Witches movie sounds familiar, you know your eye-catching video box art. Warner Bros. first adapted the 1973 Dahl novel in 1990, with Anjelica Huston starring as one of the witches. (A movie that was creepy as hell, by the way.) However, Zemeckis’ take is believed to be more “true to the book”, which is about a young boy who finds himself at odds with several witches who pose as humans.
Zemeckis’ next film, Welcome to Marwen, stars Steve Carell and will be out in November. Whether or not The Witches will come after that likely depends on the quality and timely completion of his screenplay.
[Variety]