Last year, 20th Century Studios emerged victorious in a heated bid for the python survival thriller Crush. Today brings new developments on the project, as Deadline reports that it’s found its director in Julius Avery (The Pope’s Exorcist, Overlord).

The survival thriller is said to follow “a woman hiking alone in the Everglades who wakes to find herself trapped in the crushing coils of a massive python, fighting to stay alive as every breath brings her closer to death.” It’s said to be inspired by true events and told primarily in real time.

It was the snake-themed spec, penned by current Temple Hill executive John Fischer, that inspired a massive bidding war. He posted the script on the Black List under the pseudonym J.W. Archer, which led to quick outreach from reps eager to sign him.

Fischer took it to his Temple Hill bosses. “Needless to say, it was quite a surprise when John walked into our office and told us he had written a script on the weekends in Spain while working on one of our movies,“ Bowen and Godfrey said in a statement previously. “We went from being terrified about how to come up with nice things to say when he asked us to read it to elated that it was a thrill ride of a movie that we wanted to produce. We can’t wait to abuse him with pages and pages of notes as we move this into production.”

Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey will produce for Temple Hill, with Scott Glassgold’s 12:01 Films also attached to produce. Glassgold is on a hot streak in horror; he’s currently attached to produce Siren Head and Cartoon Cat to Warner Bros. and Sony, respectively, and Drew Hancock’s Seasons for Amazon MGM Studios. 

Avery was previously set to helm alien abduction horror movie They Found Us for Temple Hill.