Animal Kingdom and Playtime have begun packaging the English-language remake of well-received Austrian psychological chiller Goodnight Mommy.
Filming is due to begin Q3, 2019, with Matt Sobel, director of 2015 Sundance drama Take Me To The River, attached to direct. Writing is underway with Sobel overseeing a draft by Kyle Warren, based on their shared take on the original.
David Kaplan (It Follows) will produce on behalf of Animal Kingdom alongside Nicolas Brigaud-Robert and Valery Guibal from Playtime (Son Of Saul).
In Goodnight Mommy, Elias and his twin brother Lukas arrive at their mother’s house to find her face covered in bandages − the result, she explains, of recent cosmetic surgery. Lukas delights in their mother’s uncharacteristically lax house rules, but
in Elias’ mind, a dreadful thought takes root: the sinking suspicion that this
woman beneath the gauze, who’s making their food and sleeping in the next
room, isn’t really their mother.
The creepy original film, directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala and produced by
Ulrich Seidl, was released in the U.S. by TWC-Radius following its 2014 North American premiere at Toronto. Franz and Fiala will both serve as executive producers on the remake.
Sobel said, “My favorite films are those that invite the audience to step inside their protagonist’s journey. Whether fear of abandonment, or the dreadful realization that those closest to us may not be who they seem, our re-imagining of Goodnight Mommy aims to create an immersive nightmare, with visceral sensations front and center.”
Playtime’s TIFF lineup includes Non-Fiction by Olivier Assayas and Sunset by László Nemes.
Sobel is represented by WME, Cinetic Media and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern, LLP. Warren is represented by UTA and Writ Large. The deal was negotiated on behalf of Animal Kingdom by Bethany Haynes of Sloss Eckhouse LawCo.
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