Almost exactly three years after it was first announced that DRIVE director Nicolas Winding Refn would be producing a remake of the 1968 horror classic WITCHFINDER GENERAL (which was called THE CONQUEROR WORM when it was released in the U.S.), it has been announced that the project has found its director.
John Hillcoat, whose credits include THE ROAD, LAWLESS, and TRIPLE 9, will be directing this new take on WITCHFINDER GENERAL.
Based on a novel by Ronald Bassett and directed by Michael Reeves, the 1968 film starred Vincent Price. It was a
disturbing tale of evil set during the English Civil War. When Matthew Hopkins is appointed Witchfinder General by the Puritans under Cromwell, he is empowered to travel the countryside with his henchmen and collect a fee for each witch from whom he extracts a confession – a policy which is exploited to the full.
THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2 writer Jon Croker has written the new screenplay. THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL will be a co-production between Refn's byNWR.com, Rupert Preston's Sunrise Films, and Hillcoat's Blank Films.
Hillcoat had this to say about the project:
I am excited to work with fellow filmmaker Nic Refn, a maverick auteur and who, together with Rupert Preston, have been fully committed to independent cinema over the years. I’m drawn to the dynamic departures behind this remake. The idea of a world pushed to extremes where fear preys upon all, unleashing religious fanaticism, rival factions, tribalism, heretics, and witch hunts… feels strangely familiar in today’s world."
Note that Hillcoat mentions that this remake is going to be a "dynamic departure" from the Price film. Preston has confirmed that this will be "a re-imagining of the original film rather than a straight remake."
We'll keep you updated as we learn more about what these collaborators have in store for us with their version of the WITCHFINDER GENERAL concept.