After starring alongside Demi Moore in 2024’s The Substance, Margaret Qualley (Happy Gilmore 2, Honey Don’t, How to Make a Killing) is returning to the horror genre for a remake of Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, with Callum Turner (Masters of the Air, The Boys in the Boat, Green Room) as her co-star. While this remake had been rumored for months, it’s now been confirmed by Vanity Fair, in a larger article written about a dazzling CinemaCon mini-film that happened to feature cameos by Qualley and Turner. The project finds Smile filmmaker Parker Finn getting behind the camera, in addition to a producing role.
What is Possession about?
Andrzej Żuławski released Possession in 1981. The psychological horror film revolves around a woman, Anna, who starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister. The film premiered at the 34th Cannes Film Festival, where Isabelle Adjani, who played Anna, won the Best Actress award.
Is a remake necessary?
Not everyone is enthusiastic about Żuławski’s film being remade. Our own Chris Bumbray, who wrote about the prospect before the remake news was confirmed, is steadfastly against it, writing, “There’s just one problem: it will never be as good.
The original Possession is inseparable from its context. It was shot in Cold War-era West Germany, on location near Berlin Wall. That setting isn’t background texture—it’s the film’s soul.
It’s a cinematic time capsule. And then there’s the ending. Possession is so provocative, so confrontational in its final act, that there’s no realistic way a modern studio-backed remake wouldn’t sand off its sharpest edges. If Finn gets to make it, you can be sure it’ll be forced into something more palatable—and more mainstream.”
Details on Callum Turner’s next movie
Callum Turner recently starred alongside Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller in the feel-good romance Eternity. Hailed as one of the best romantic comedies in years, Eternity has the following synopsis: In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with and her first love, who died young and has waited decades for her to arrive. Turner’s next film is Karim Aïnouz’s Rosebush Pruning, a dramatic thriller about a family struggling with genetic illnesses living on a country estate. It arrives in theaters from Mubi this summer.
I recall seeing the box art for Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession in video stores back in the day, but never thought to rent it. The premise sounds intriguing, but I’ll need to learn more before saying I’m on board. I enjoyed Margaret Qualley a great deal in The Substance, and I’ll be damned if my social media feed doesn’t show me Spike Jonze’s video for Kenzo World every couple of scrolls. Maybe I’ll give this one a shot after seeing a trailer.
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