Rising genre filmmakerOz Perkinshas signed on to directGretel and Hanselfor Orion Pictures and Automatik Entertainment, Collider has exclusively learned.
Rob Hayes(Netflix’sChewing Gum) wrote the script, which sources describe as a faithful version of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a pair of siblings kidnapped by a terrifying witch who lives in the surrounding woods.
Brian Kavanaugh-Jones(Sinister) andFred Berger(La La Land) will produce for Automatik, and production is expected to start this fall in Europe.
TheHansel and Gretelfairy tale has served as the basis for countless adaptations and re-tellings – the most notable and recent of which was likelyTommy Wirkola’sHansel & Gretel: Witch HuntersstarringJeremy RennerandGemma Arterton. There was also a 1987 version featuringCloris Leachmanas the Witch, a 2002 version featuringLynn Redgraveas the Witch, and even a stoner version calledHansel & Gretel Get Bakedthat starredLara Flynn Boyleas the Witch. The material is so popular that bothTim BurtonandThe WitchdirectorRobert EggersmadeHansel & Gretelshort films early in their careers. At least this new project flips the title and gives Gretel top billing in an effort to distinguish itself.
Perkins is the up-and-coming director of A24’sThe Blackcoat’s DaughterstarringEmma RobertsandKiernan Shipkaand Netflix’s haunted house movieI Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the HousestarringRuth Wilson. He also wroteThe Girl in the Photographs, which was the last film thatWes Cravenworked on prior to his death, as well as the crime dramaCold Comes the NightstarringBryan Cranston.
Perkins is also the son ofPsychostarAnthony Perkins, and earlier this year he signed on to direct an adaptation ofPaul Tremblay’s thrillerA Head Full of Ghostsfor Focus Features. He’s represented by CAA, Grandview and attorney Jonathan E. Shikora at Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman.
