Stephen King‘s classic short tale The Monkey is set to hit the big screen with one of the masters of modern horror, James Wan, behind the project. The creator of sagas like Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring will produce the new adaptation, starring one of the stars of the HBO hit, The White Lotus.
Deadline confirms that Divergent and The Time Traveler’s Wife star Theo James will be the main protagonist in the film based on King’s story published within the Skeleton Crew collection in 1985, after originally being released in Gallery Magazine five years earlier.
The collection includes 22 titles in total, including The Mist, Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut, The Reaper’s Image, Uncle Otto’s Truck, and The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet.
The story centers on the twin brothers Hal and Bill. Hal’s family travels to the old house of an aunt after her passing, where they find a strange toy monkey with cymbals, which their children become obsessed with, not knowing what it hides. Now that the monkey has returned to his life, Hal will relive secrets he’d rather keep buried, memories he doesn’t want to revisit, mysteries he’d rather not solve.
A series of unexpected deaths will begin to turn the lives of Hal and Bill into a true nightmare, from which it seems impossible to escape without facing the ghosts of the past. James is expected to play both brothers in the film.
James Wan’s Trademark
Although he has been dedicating himself more intensely to producing than directing for several years, James Wan began his path as a master of horror with Stygian in 2000, which he co-directed with Shannon Young. However, it was not until 2004 when he had his big break, with the premiere of Saw.
Based on a short-film from the previous year, the movie inaugurated one of the most popular sagas within the genre, as well as becoming one of the biggest franchises of the new millennium, which will soon return to theaters with a new film.
In 2010, he surprised audiences again with another film that would be the beginning of a new saga of horror tales, Insidious, which will also soon have a new chapter directed by Patrick Wilson in his directorial debut, one of Wan’s fetish actors. .
It was in fact with Wilson that he started what would be his third major franchise in 2013 with The Conjuring, telling the life and adventures of the Warrens. This saga will not only return with another installment, it also continues to expand with spinoffs like The Nun and will have its own series on HBO Max.
In 2018, Wan ventured into superhero cinema with Aquaman where he teamed up with Wilson once again, now playing the main villain. In December, both director and actor will be back in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which could be the last adventure of Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry within the DCU.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
