Willem Dafoe Plays a Police Chief (Again) in ‘Odd Thomas’

I fell in love with horror author Dean Kootz back in ’93 when my school principal called me to the office and told me the “subject matter was too adult for me.” Everyone was big on Stephen King, I was all Kootnz.

I was such a huge fan that one of the biggest disappointments in my life was the 1998 feature film Phantoms, which castrated one of the most chilling stories I read in my young life. After numerous Hollywood dumpers, Kootnz swore off feature film adaptations, at least until the past few years.

Gearing up for production in New Mexico later this spring and summer is Odd Thomas, a new Kootnz adaptation this time by Stephen Sommers. The only thing “Odd” is the directing choice, considering Sommers is responsible for debacles such as Van Helsing and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Sure, I loved Deep Rising, but 12 years hasn’t given me much to look forward to…

Ranting aside, THR has some good news as they’re reporting Willem Dafoe (Antichrist) is in talks to join the cast of the supernatural thriller that centers on a short-order cook named Odd Thomas who can commune with the dead, a secret only his girlfriend (Addison Timlin) and the local police (Dafoe) chief know.

The young man can also spot malevolent forces called bodachs, who feed on pain and portent imminent death. When Odd sees them in spades surrounding a stranger, he finds himself in a race against time to avert a catastrophe.

The movie, with a budget in the $20 to $30 million range.
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Tim Robbins Circling a Role in Stephen Sommers’ ‘Odd Thomas’

With Anton Yelchin (Terminator: Salvation, Fright Night) already a lock, and an offer out to Priest star Lily Collins, Bloody Disgusting is being told that Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption , War of the Worlds) is also circling a role in Stephen Sommers’ (The Mummy, Van Helsing, Deep Rising) adaptation of Dean Koontz’s popular Odd Thomas.

Odd Thomas is silently approached by the ghost of a young girl brutally raped and murdered, and through his unique ability to understand the dead, is psychically led to her killer, a former schoolmate named Harlo Landerson. With this opening, we are introduced to Odd’s world. Koontz soon discloses how Odd was named and begins, layer by layer, to show how Odd’s dysfunctional upbringing has shaped his life, and as those details are uncovered, his supernatural abilities begin to make more sense.” Read more over at Wiki or on the official website.
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War of the Worlds

In H.G. Well’s 1898 novel, “The War of the Worlds,” he invented the myth of invasion from outer space. Martians land near London, conquering all before them, and ruin the metropolis; the fate of civilization and even of the human race remains in doubt until the very last. “The War of the Worlds” is disturbingly realistic both because of its setting — Wells bicycled the route the Martians take on landing — and because of its characters: the superstitious curate, boastful artilleryman, and enterprising medical student are believable if not sympathetic figures, as well as signifying types of fin-de-siecle change and vision.