'The Box' Has Been Greenlit

[Omnipotent]

The following press release about Richard Kelly's next film was recently issued. Read below...

Media Rights Capital Greenlights Production of 'The Box' starring Cameron Diaz: PG-13 Supernatural Horror Film To Be Directed by Richard Kelly

New York, NY (June 27, 2007) Media Rights Capital, the film, television and Internet content-financing and monetization company, today announced its latest project, THE BOX, a horror film starring Cameron Diaz. THE BOX is slated to begin production this fall and will be directed by Richard Kelly, whose directorial feature debut was the critically acclaimed film DONNIE DARKO.

The script for the film, a high-concept, supernatural, PG-13 thriller, was written by Kelly and is based on the short story “Button, Button” by legendary screenwriter and novelist Richard Matheson. Producers of the film include Kelly and Sean McKittrick, who also teamed on DONNIE DARKO. Media Rights Capital will pursue sales and distribution in the fall, when production of THE BOX is expected to begin. Terms of Media Rights Capital’s financing were not disclosed.

“My hope is to make a film that is incredibly suspenseful and broadly commercial, while still retaining my artistic sensibility,” said Kelly, who demonstrated his unique vision with cult hit DONNIE DARKO. “I am especially excited to be working with Cameron Diaz, an actress I have always admired."

“The storyline has all the commerciality of THE RING, but with Richard and Cameron, this film can rise to the level of ROSEMARY’S BABY and THE OTHERS,” said Media Rights Capital’s co-CEO and co-Founder Modi Wiczyk.

With THE BOX, Media Rights Capital is leveraging the latest resurgence in PG-13 supernatural thrillers, as evidenced by the surprising $20,000,000 opening of 1408 last weekend.

“Richard Kelly’s unique voice and vision, combined with a commercially-oriented PG-13 script, cannot help but result in an extraordinary film,” said Asif Satchu, also co-founder and co-CEO of Media Rights Capital. “We are excited to see Richard and Cameron train their extraordinary talent on making a classic supernatural thriller in the tradition of THE OTHERS, THE EXORCIST AND ROSEMARY’S BABY.”

Credits:

A Darko Entertainment Production
Written and to be directed by Richard Kelly
Producer - Sean McKittrick
Executive Producer - Ted Hamm

Richard Kelly and Sean McKittrick are both represented by CAA, The Firm (management), and Sloan, Offer, Weber and Dern (legal). Cameron Diaz is represented by CAA, The Firm, and Jackoway, Tyerman, Wertheimer, Austen, Mandelbaum & Morris (legal).

www.imdb.com/title/tt0362478/

[thepretender]

I love that cameron Diaz will be in it...
hey...wasn't she going with Jake???
hmmm?

[ProvidencePortal]

Ahhh! I have been waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting for this to get into production. Some thoughts:

-- Thank God for the re-return of Kelly, and the apparent clout he retains after the Southland Tales debacle. I wasn't sure he'd come back from the Cannes beating he took.

-- Is there anything worth watching that Matheson didn't write first ... or inspire someone else to write? He's the invisible giant: behind every notable modern horror writer there is a pile of Matheson short stories and novels, read in bed by flashlight. When Stephen King calls you his "most important influence," you may have status.

-- Arrrgh ... is Eli Roth off the project? I have to share: when I saw the rating at the top of the release, I instantly thought, "Damn ... must mean Roth's out." And indeed, I don't see a mention of him ... unless I missed it.

edit: punctuation correction

[Twitchmonkey]

I hope Eli Roth is off. I also hope that he's hit by a truck. And doesn't live.

I'm not sure how I feel about Cameron Diaz in a starring role, but I'm definitely happy to see this greenlit, I'm probably anticipating this more than Southland Tales.

[Omnipotent]

I can't stand Cameron Diaz, but we'll see.

[Twitchmonkey]

omnipotent said:

I can't stand Cameron Diaz, but we'll see.

Kelly really seems to want to work with big stars, but the only evidence we have of his handling of them is with Drew Barrymore in DD and to a much lesser extent, Keira Knightley in Domino (though not really, because he didn't direct). We all know what sort of performance Barrymore delivered in DD, so I think it's justified to be a bit trepidatious about another "Charlie's Angels" alum.

[Omnipotent]

Now, I've read the script for Richard Kelly's THE BOX and it's strong. Really strong. If you're not familiar with the project, it's based on a Richard Matheson scripted episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE about a box concealing a button. It is given to a couple that is told they will be paid life-changing money if they press the button, but with the knowledge that if the button is pressed then someone will die. The presser of the button will not know the person killed, but by pressing the button they are in fact killing someone.

Cameron Diaz has just joined the project, playing the wife of the couple given the box.

Kelly originally wrote it for Eli Roth to direct, but then Roth got caught up with HOSTEL 2 and CELL and left it for Kelly to direct once SOUTHLAND TALES was finally finished.

We're starting to see some press now talking about how audiences don't want R-rated horror anymore because 1408 did well and HOSTEL 2 didn't and I'd like to address this now. In the trade story announcing Diaz, they talk about how Kelly is aiming for a PG-13... Having read the script, it's pretty obvious that a PG-13 is the way to go. This story isn't dependent on gore or sex or language. I don't believe for a second that Kelly is afraid of the R, but I do think he sees that this story can be told PG-13 without losing any of the suspense he wants.

I think the rating has nothing or almost nothing to do with the recent performance of horror. I liked HOSTEL 2 and I liked 1408, but we haven't seen a horror movie like 1408 in a long while whereas the type of horror HOSTEL 2 is has been dominant in the genre for the last few years.

I don't think the horror audience wants tame horror, I think they want a better variety. I don't think I've ever met a horror fan that said, "Man... I'm tired of R-rated horror movies. Why can't we get more PG-13 stuff?"

All the press will just go away whenever the next R-rated horror movie comes out and sweeps up. Every time something fails it's always the death of whatever type of film that was and whenever something succeeds, it's always the beginning of a new trend. That's just how things are reported. Maybe you'll disagree, but I don't believe the audience only wants PG-13 horror.

But like I said above about Richard Kelly's script, I think he's making the movie he wants, a movie that can fit in a PG-13 rating, not paring it down because he's afraid of a harsher rating. On the whole, THE BOX is Kelly's most mainstream script. It still has his quirks, of course. His voice is clearly there, but I think it has a wider appeal than his previous work. Now if he can just get the final cut of SOUTHLAND TALES to come out...

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