Robert Englund has been tapped to direct a genie-centric fantasy film called The Vij. We get the skinny from the professionals at Variety:
U.S. actor/director Robert Englund, best known as Freddie Kruger in the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise, will direct “The Vij,” a dark gothic fantasy in which Christopher Lee is attached to star. Based on an eponymous novel by Russian writer Nikolaj Gogol, “The Vij” revolves around an evil genie who conditions the actions of a young priest, leading him to commit murder and fall in love with an old witch who is actually not what she seems.
Italo producer Loris Curci is producing “The Vij” for Rome-based horror shingle ReDark in association with Canada’s Remstar and Spain’s Canonigo Films. Shooting is scheduled to start in April in the Lazio region with assistance and incentives from the Rome/Lazio Film Commission. The uninhabited medieval village of Civita di Bagnoregio will be a prime location for “The Vij.”
Christopher Lee as an evil genie! That fucking rules!!! Holy crow, this movie sounds awesome, as a former seminarian myself I can appreciate a story about a priest that is driven to murder and hump-sex with a witch! We don’t have a ton of details about this yet, but we have enough to know that the idea is kick ass.
I guess since Englund isn’t going to be reprising his role as Freddy he will have time to direct. Englund is also slated to act in the film and I honestly cannot wait to check this one out. Very few ideas coming down the pipe actually catch my attention like this one has. The genie genre is under used and I am glad to see a film like this in the works.
International friends, have any of you read this novel? I may actually try to read this one before the film comes out. We will be sure to keep you up to speed on this one and I will personally follow the news with great interest.
