Movies
Legendary Making Extra Cash With Supernatural Hunter ‘Gravel’
Tim Miller has been set by Legendary Pictures to direct Gravel, a live action adaptation of the Warren Ellis comic book series that’s been in development since 2009, reports Deadline. Legendary will produce the project with Rick Alexander, with Ellis as executive producer and Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell are writing the script.
Published by Avatar Press, “‘Gravel’ revolves around the character William Gravel, a soldier in the British S.A.S. who uses his skills in dark magic to moonlight and battle supernatural beings for clients in order to make some extra cash.”
Miller last year was hired by Fox to direct X-Men Origins: Deadpool, the spinoff film that is in development and based on the character that Safe House star Ryan Reynolds played in Wolverine.
Miller is the co-founder and owner of Blur Studio, a CG animation studio known for its video game cinematics. Miller directs many of those, most recently including the unforgettable title sequence in the David Fincher-directed The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. 
Up next from The People’s Joker director Vera Drew is a found footage movie titled Trandemic, and it’s being made possible by the Transgender Film Center Found Footage Feature Fund.
Deadline notes in a report this afternoon that Vera Drew’s Trandemic is the very first recipient of the award, created to “support micro-budget feature filmmaking by transgender creators.”
The outlet explains, “Applications were first evaluated by the Transgender Film Center and partner representatives, with finalists then presented to Duplass Brothers Productions, who selected the winning project.” Vera Drew will receive a $25,000 cash grant to bring Trandemic to life, with the project being described as a “cosmic found footage horror-comedy.”
Deadline further details, “The award package also includes creative advisory support from Duplass Brothers Productions; mentorship with Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice; a final script review from Duplass before production; development guidance from Kevin Nicklaus of Sandstone Artists; 15 days of in-kind post-production services from Aesthetica Post, including conform, color grading, light VFX, DCP delivery and festival-ready masters; a $37,000 post-sound package from Aura Sound and Color; and festival submission waivers from Transgender Film Center and partner festivals, including Fantastic Fest.”
“I’m so wildly stoked and honored to be receiving this grant from the Trans Film Center and Duplass Brothers Productions,” Vera Drew said in a statement. “Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass reinvented the found footage genre with the Creep franchise, so their support means the world to me as I gear up to do the same with my sophomore feature film Trandemic.”
“There were so many incredible projects submitted to us, I wish we could have picked every one of them,” Mark Duplass said. “But here’s the good news … everyone who built their projects to be made at a $25k budget? The hard part is already done. They can now go out, crowdfund it, and bring it to the world at a time when auteur-driven found footage horror is having a real moment.”