Movies
Del Toro Comes on to Produce ‘Julia’s Eyes’
While already reported on earlier this year, Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, The Hobbit, Pan’s Labyrinth), has come to produce the dark Spanish-language thriller Los ojos de Julia (Julia’s Eyes) along with Barcelona’s Rodar y Rodar. What’s interesting about the project is that it takes elements from REC and is shot from Julia’s POV (nothing like a fresh concept). You can read more on the project by reading on. Is Guillermo over extending himself? What do you think?
The project, which sees del Toro and the Spanish shingle reuniting after their previous collaboration, “The Orphanage,” is the latest to draw on the seemingly bottomless well of young genre talent in Catalan capital Barcelona.
“Julia’s Eyes,” which will be directed by Guillem Morales, who also co-writes along with Oriol Paulo, will be produced by Rodar’s Joaquin Padro and Mar Targarona and co-financed by Focus Features Intl. Universal Pictures Intl. will release the pic in Spain, Latin America and France. De Planeta is handling sales in the remaining international territories.
The pic, which has thesps Belen Rueda (“The Orphanage”) and Lluis Homar (“Broken Embraces”) attached to star, tells the story of a woman slowly going blind as she investigates the mysterious death of her twin sister. Lensing begins Oct. 5
Rodar also produced “An Uncertain Guest,” Morales’ feature debut, which mixed fact and delusion in its Edgar Allen Poe-like chronicle of a young man’s guilt-driven descent into delirium.
“Eyes” is shot from Julia’s POV, so the scare tactics include panic attacks as the protag’s sight fails.
But “Eyes” won’t be a simple schlock-a-thon.
Del Toro helped broker the production deal with Focus Features Intl. and has helped supervise writing and casting.
Says Padro: “The thriller’s an excuse to talk about a woman who overcomes her limitations; it’s a journey of self-discovery.” Thanks to the nearby Sitges fest, as well as Barcelona-shot pics such as “The Orphanage” and “REC,” the Catalan capital ranks among Europe’s foremost horror hubs. And like Japan and South Korea, Spain had a relatively late industrial revolution, which means that rural ghoul tales still resonate.
“Julia’s Eyes” reps a re-teaming of del Toro with Focus. The filmmaker’s shingle Cha Cha Cha, which he founded along with fellow Mexicans Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, has a five picture deal with Focus. del Toro also has a separate first-look deal with Universal Pictures.
It was Filmax that created an export-driven business model for horror pic production in the Fantastic Factory. Other producers are following suit: ‘Eyes’ forms part of Rodar’s policy of making studio-backed films for the international market, says Padro.
A key question is how — and how far — Hollywood studios will become involved in Catalan scarefare.
Budgeted at a contained E5.1 million ($7.2 million), “Eyes” points to a mixed financial formula, meshing studio equity and local coin. Majority co-production coin comes from Spain: broadcast network film division Antena 3 Films, Catalan pubcaster TV3 and state film investment fund Mes Films.
Unlike in France, many young Catalan directors — often, like Morales, alums of Barcelona’s vibrant ESCAC film school — are unabashed ’80s U.S. scarefare fanboys, Padro points out.
Adds Focus Features Intl.’s Clare Wise, who is supervising the production for FFI: “There seems to be a real appetite in Spain for this type of genre. They do this type of sophisticated horror film incredibly well.“
Movies
’28 Years Later’ – Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join Long Awaited Sequel
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).
The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.
No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.
28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.
Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.
The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.
Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
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