An adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches can be counted as one of the many projects Guillermo Del Toro has attached himself to over the years. And like so many of those, it ain’t gonna happen with him at the helm, and so it may be passing down to Robert Zemeckis who is in final talks to direct.
If Zemeckis signs on he’ll be getting support from Oscar winners Del Toro and Alfonso Cuarton, two of today’s best directors when it comes to telling dark fairy tale stories for kids and adults alike. They’ll produce the adaptation of Dahl’s 1983 novel which Zemeckis would both direct and write. The film was previously adapted for the screen in a 1990 film led by Anjelica Huston, in which she plays the leader of all witches on the planet as they face a young boy and his Norwegian grandmother. If you haven’t seen it you should check it out both for Huston’s lively performance and some of the puppet work by the Jim Henson team. Whoever lands the role of the Grand High Witch for this new film is going to have a ball.
No word on when this will begin, but likely sometime after Zemeckis’s latest film, Welcome to Marwen, hits theaters in November. [Variety]
