Although it’s difficult to tell whether this is really true or just a case of mixed wires, rumours abound this morning that Sam Raimi is planning to direct a remake of Poltergeist. The idea comes from a piece in THR about screenwriter David Lindsay Abaire’s upcoming projects.
The piece says, ‘His [Abaire’s] next project is equally unconventional: He’s penning the script for a remake of Poltergeist, to be directed by Sam Raimi, who he reveals was originally supposed to direct the big-screen adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole before a scheduling conflict got in the way. (John Cameron Mitchell wound up getting the job.)’
Many wondered if this was purely mistaken info based on old, debunked reports Raimi might helm. However Scott Feinberg, who wrote the THR piece, took to Twitter to back up his report, saying ‘Lindsay-Abaire told me that Raimi was directing it. I had never heard of the possibility before that.’ It’s also true that Abaire has worked with Raimi of both his Spider-man films and the upcoming Oz The Great And Powerful and so is in a place to know what’s going on.
It was already known Raimi was planning to produce the film, but it seems he’s now a lot closer to directing it, even though he denied he wanted to helm the movie last year. Whether this comes to fruition is yet to be seen, but a lot more people will be interested in the Poltergeist do-over if Sam does helm.
Although fans of the original are still grumlbing about it, an The Evil Dead remake is moving forward at Ghost House Pictures, with Fede Alvarez directing from a screenplay by Diablo Cody. With the American Film Market coming up very soon (and the film looking for potential distributors), they’ve released new information about the plot.