TV
Netflix Horror Series “Archive 81” Teams James Wan with “Stranger Things” Director Rebecca Thomas
James Wan, the director of horror classics from Saw to Insidious and even The Conjuring, has found his next production. The filmmaker behind production entity Atomic Monster is executive producing “Archive 81”, a supernatural horror series that has already received an eight-episode order at Netflix, reports Variety.
Loosely inspired by the found-footage horror podcast of the same name, “Archive 81” will star Jurassic World: Dominion and Underwater‘s Mamoudou Athie with “Altered Carbon” alumna Dina Shihabi.
In the series, “When archivist Dan Turner (Athie) takes a mysterious job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes from 1994, he finds himself reconstructing the work of documentary filmmaker Melody Pendras (Shihabi) and her investigation into a dangerous cult. As Dan is drawn into Melody’s story, he becomes convinced he can save her from the terrifying end she met 25 years ago.”
“Stranger Things” helmer Rebecca Thomas is on board to direct half the season of “Archive 81,” including the premiere. The series also hails from writer, showrunner and executive producer Rebecca Sonnenshine (“The Boys,” “The Vampire Diaries”). Paul Harris Boardman developed the original script and is on board as an EP. Rob Hackett is a co-executive producer.
The original “Archive 81” podcast was created by Marc Sollinger and Daniel Powell, who serve as co-producers on the Netflix series.
Mamoudou Athie, Kristen Stewart, and director William Eubank and on the set of Twentieth Century Fox’s Underwater.
Best known to horror fans for playing Rupert Giles in 121 episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” actor Anthony Head (aka Anthony Stewart Head) has passed away at 72 years old.
Daughters Emily and Daisy Head said in a statement to the BBC that their father “passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family.”
Their statement continues, “It has been, and forever will be, an honour and a privilege to be his daughters, and to have witnessed firsthand the impact both he and his work have had on so many. We know how dearly he will be missed by friends, colleagues, and fans of the shows he was in — he loved his job very much, and he always considered himself incredibly lucky, to have been able to work alongside such exceptionally talented people, in such wonderful productions, across a career that spanned several decades.”
Anthony Head more recently played Rupert Mannion in 18 episodes of “Ted Lasso,” with the English actor’s film and television credits dating back to 1978. On the horror front, Anthony Head starred in Darren Bousman’s Repo! The Genetic Opera, as well as 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Let the Wrong One In, “Warehouse 13,” and “The Canterville Ghost.”
Also of note here in the world of horror, Anthony Head once played Dr. Frank-N-Furter in a London stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show back in the 1990s.
Outside the horror world, Anthony Head’s film and television credits well exceed 100 different productions and include “Highlander,” “NYPD Blue,” “Silent Witness,” “Doctor Who,” And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, “Little Britain,” The Magic Door, “Sensitive Skin,” Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, “Free Agents,” The Iron Lady, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, “You, Me & Them,” “Dominion,” A Street Cat Named Bob, and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.
“Buffy” actor James Marsters writes on Instagram, “There’s a hole in the World. Anthony Head has passed on from us. He was an unflaggingly kind and steady presence on the set of Buffy, and the best actor in the cast. He was the best of us. I was lucky to have known, and learned from him. He left the world a better place for his presence. Thank you Tony for all you gave.”
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