Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter is plotting his feature directorial debut at Netflix with the historical drama This Beast. In addition to his duties behind the camera, Sutter will write and produce the film alongside Blumhouse's Jason Blum. Carla Hacken will produce as well through her Paper Pictures studio.
Here's a description of the plot, via Deadline:
An 18th century English village is besieged by a mysterious and elusive beast. Dozens of innocents are slaughtered and the mayhem is driven to puritanical heights by religious fanaticism. The impossible task of killing the beast falls to a lowly trapper who promises he can stop the carnage. But for him this hunt is not a professional mission, it’s a deeply personal one. The idea was inspired by The Beast of Gévaudan, a true story about a mysterious beast that terrorized a French village in the 1760s.
“Bringing my disturbing, familial story sensibility into the Blumhouse world just seemed like something that had to happen,” Sutter remarked. "And This Beast is the perfect project for that marriage. And Netflix is the perfect venue for that bloody ceremony.”
If the story of The Beast of Gévaudan sounds familiar, it's likely due to the iconic hunt being the focus of Christophe Gans's Brotherhood of the Wolf. Released in 2001, Gans's film is set in 18th-century France, where the Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani are sent to the Gevaudan province at the king's behest to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.
I wonder what kind of new spin Sutter plans on putting on the material? More importantly, though, what will the beast look like? It will likely be a while before we find out, but it's cool to know that the wheels are already in motion.