John Logan, the openly gay writer of Skyfall, Sweeney Todd, Gladiator, Hugo and Rango has announced his next project: Whistler Camp, a horror film set at a queer conversion therapy camp. Logan will also make his directorial debut with the film.
The three-time Oscar nominee will pen the film for Blumhouse Productions, the indie horror studio behind Get Out and the Insidious series. Deadline reports that Blumhouse has billed the movie as a “queer empowerment” story, and has launched a casting search as well. No word on when filming will begin, or a potential release date.
We’ve wanted to make a movie with #JohnLogan and he came up with the *perfect* idea ??
John Logan To Make Feature Directorial Debut With Blumhouse Horror Movie ‘Whistler Camp’ https://t.co/XEQNnjowRm via @Deadline
— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) April 9, 2021
“We’ve wanted to make a movie with #JohnLogan and he came up with the *perfect* idea,” Blumhouse President Jason Blum said via Twitter. Blum will personally produce the film alongside Michael Aguilar, the producer of Penny Dreadful.
John Logan shot to the top of the showbiz heap with his Oscar-nominated screenplay to Gladiator in 2000. He’s since had great success writing in Hollywood and on the Broadway stage where his play Red nabbed a Tony Award in 2010. His series Penny Dreadful combined his love of horror with LGBTQ themes, which helped cement its success for a three-season run.
Conversion therapy, meanwhile, has been denounced by virtually every medical and psychiatric organization in the United States as an ineffective, harmful form of torture. Several states have legally banned the practice for that reason.
Fahd
This looks very promising; especially based on the association with Get Out, which was really good.
Cato
Penny Dreadful had absolutely brilliant writing with over the top horror and plenty of satisfying queer content. This sounds like it could be a queer Lovecraft Country (which had some pretty awesome queer content too!).
Oranos
I agree. The dialogue was very much of the era, and people spoke in the cadence that 19th century people would, in contrast to horror movies where everyone sounds like they grew up in So. Cal and say, “seriously?” constantly.
Great writing and it kept you enthralled.
inbama
First season was best with his novel take on the Victorian originals; it began to get lost with Frankenstein’s feminist bride partnering with Dorian Gray, and finally the awful overblown Dracula.
That said, his work on Tim Burton’s “Sweeney Todd” was part one of the most successful film version of a Sondheim work ever.
Catholicslutbox
PD was a let down.
I was expecting something scary but got… idk. It’s been a while.