Back in 1969, five years before he founded the independent film company Troma, Lloyd Kaufman worked with Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee to craft a horror screenplay called Night of the Witch… but, unfortunately, the project never made it into production. Now, more than fifty years later, our friends at Bloody Disgusting report that Night of the Witch is finally going to be brought to the screen, thanks to filmmaker Joe Manco’s Little Spark Films.
In 2017 Q&A, Kaufman gave the history of Night of the Witch: “Stan Lee and I go back. I’m probably the oldest living friend of his. We go back to the late 60s. And while I was at Yale, the only thing I learned aside from drugs was Marvel comics. The guy next to me had the Marvel comics, and I got knocked out by them, so I searched out Stan Lee. In 1969 and 1970 he wasn’t the Stan Lee you know today, so he was very accessible. He gave me a reel-to-reel tape in which he had dictated an idea for a movie. He told me to write it up, it was called Night of the Witch. I did write it up, but I changed it a bit to where the witch was the good person, sorta like [the Toxic Avenger]. We actually had it optioned a few times, and then Stan and I became buddies. He was very nice to Troma, and he was the reason Toxie had a comic book. … We had a Finland producer about 15 years ago that was ready to do it, and Stan was all for it because it would have united Stan Lee and Lloyd Kaufman — you know, Stan Lee’s Night of the Witch by Lloyd Kaufman. The guy came over and met with Stan. Then, we had this big luncheon with Stan’s business partner, and the business partner said, ‘Oh, no, no no. Stan only does AAA movies now.’ And that was the end of Night of the Witch.“
Stan Lee passed away in 2018, but Lloyd Kaufman is still with us, and he has found a way to make Night of the Witch happen with Joe Manco. Manco will be directing the film from a screenplay he and Kaufman wrote together. Xander McCabe is producing with Manco and his Little Spark partner Catalina Querida. Novelist Preston Fassel will co-produce, with Walt Crowell as associate producer and Kaufman serving as executive producer.
The project is in pre-production, aiming to start filming in Dallas, Texas next year – and while some of the funding has already been secured, Manco is hoping more investors will come on board now that Night of the Witch has officially been announced. Little Spark will also be producing a documentary about the project, called Passing the Torch.
The story of Night of the Witch follows a Mexican-American girl who comes under suspicion of witchcraft on the bicentennial of a historic witch trial.
I think it’s great that Night of the Witch is finally going to be made, so many decades after Lee and Kaufman worked out the story. Does this project sound interesting to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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