Last week we detailed the trouble history of the next Friday the 13th, which appears to be back on track for release on October 13, 2017.
The Crazies‘ Breck Eisner is in talks to direct the slasher with Prisoners‘ Aaron Guzikowski writing the script. The film is, according to producer Brad Fuller, “an origin-ish story.”
Fuller, along with his Platinum Dunes producing partner Andrew Form, revealed quite a bit more to Variety. Here, they acknowledge for the first time that it’s a special occasion: yes, this will be the 13th Friday the 13th.
Said Fuller:
This is the 13th “Friday the 13th” and on some level that’s kind of magical that we are lucky enough to make the 13th “Friday the 13th” movie. The challenges are you don’t want to alienate the people that come to see the first 12 but at the same time you don’t want your audience who haven’t seen the first 12 to feel like I’ve missed out on all of this and I’m not coming to see the 13th film.
That’s where and why we were lucky enough to get Aaron Guzikowski, who is an amazing writer and who saw a way to bridge those two audiences and make a way a movie where if you haven’t seen a “Friday the 13th” movie you know exactly what is going on and if you have seen one, you are going to be smiling the whole way through because there are nods to everything that you know but it is not imperative that you know those things to enjoy the film. We have made plenty of Slasher movies and what excites us about this one is that our characters aren’t just meat for Jason to butcher. These are real characters which will hopefully make the bond with the audience that much stronger because you really care about the people in this film.
Then, the duo ignited flames with this gem:
Form: But when its time for Jason to do his business…
Fuller:…He’s busy.
Form: He does it and we will not let anyone down because when it is time it’s..
Fuller: It’s unrelenting.
“Hannibal” and “Channel Zero” scribe Nick Antosca had previously been writing the script for David Bruckner to direct. If you’re curious what that would have looked like, I read the screenplay and revealed everything.
The new script is said to be focused on the family, including Pamela Voorhees, and even Jason’s father, Elijah.
Here’s to hoping casting begins soon!
