Film4 and Fremantle have officially announced that production is underway for Seance on a Wet Afternoon, with Rachel Weisz cast in the lead role.
Tomas Alfredson is in the director’s chair for this adaptation of Mark McShane’s 1961 novel.
Film News Blitz’s RC Stacey celebrates the chilling revival of a psychological classic.
‘Seance on a Wet Afternoon’ is in production
Currently shooting across the UK, the film features an elite trio of talent.
Academy Award winner Weisz (The Mummy) stars alongside Emmy winner Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) and Joe Alwyn (The Favourite).
The script is penned by Jack Thorne, the Emmy-winning co-creator of Adolescence.
This new iteration promises to delve deep into the dark obsession of Myra (Weisz), a self-proclaimed medium who orchestrates the kidnapping of a wealthy family’s son.
Her goal? To “discover” the child using her psychic visions and claim the legitimacy she craves.
But as her husband Billy (Macfadyen) soon discovers, Myra’s delusions may be more dangerous than the crime itself.
The story was first adapted in 1964 by director Bryan Forbes, starring Kim Stanley and Richard Attenborough, and the literary property has seen multiple adaptations over the decades, spawning the Japanese horror cult classic Séance in 2000 and an opera in 2009.
Alfredson’s take is expected to lean into his signature visual style, supported by a world-class technical crew including cinematographer Marcell Rév (Euphoria), with the Production Design led by Jacqueline Abrahams (The Lobster)
Produced by Weisz and Polly Stokes for Astral Projection alongside Element Pictures (The Favourite), the project has the backing of FilmNation Entertainment for international sales.
To find out more about the dark history of the 1964 original or the Japanese horror shift, give it a Google.
It’s a rabbit hole of psychological obsession well worth exploring.
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