Friday Link-A-Mania

Zombie footballers; Lost writers create a fairy tale; Demon Hunters get out of their depth; Paris to be the setting for a horror anthology

Footballing Zombies
Ryan Brown’s debut novel Play Dead, a combination of American football and zombies, has been optioned for the movie treatment, reports Collider , with Joe Schreiber ( Au Revoir , Crazy European Chick) adapting for a tentative 2011 start date. The story involves football player zombies bent on revenge in a gridiron-obsessed Texas town.

Once Upon A Time
That fairy tale TV series we mentioned a few days back that’s being created for ABC by former Lost writer/producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis now has a name. It’s going to be called Once Upon A Time , and, according to Variety , it’s a modern-day take on fairy tales, with a female protagonist who comes from a unique background. The show takes place in a small town in Maine (doesn’t Stephen King have the copyright on fantasies set in Maine?) and will have a large ensemble cast. Lost co-creator and executive producer Damon Lindelof will act as a consultant. Kitsis and Horowitz have also recently written the script for Tron: Legacy and are working on the movie version of Ouija .

Demon Hunters
Dennis Iliadis, who directed the remake of The House on the Left , is in negotiations to direct The Demonologists , about a family of ghost hunters who find themselves out of their league when they encounter a demon. According to The Hollywood Reporter the script has been written by Teddy Tenenbaum, whose credits include episodes of The Dead Zone and more The Ghost Whisperer .

Charlize Theron Could Be An Evil Stepmother
Universal is pursuing Charlize Theron to star as the evil stepmother Queen Ravenna in Snow White And The Huntsman , reports Collider . Meanwhile Tom Hardy ( Inception ), who is rumored to be close to signing a deal to play Eric the Huntsman (but at the moment he seems to be rumoured to be in everything). Both were set to start working on George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road , which has been delayed. In this version of the Snow White story, The Huntsman is hired by the Evil Queen to track down her stepdaughter and kill her. Instead he helps Snow White make her getaway. Apparently, director Rupert Sanders is still deciding whether to go all dark and sinister with the film, or turn it into romance. We’re guessing which way you’d like to see it go…

Paris Horror Anthology
A whole bunch of horror directors, including Joe Dante ( Gremlins ), Paco Plaza ( [REC] ), Vincenzo Natali ( Splice ), Xavier Gens ( Hitman ), and Ryuhei Kitamura ( Midnight Meat Train ) are teaming up to make a horror anthology film called Paris, I’ll Kill You . According to The Hollywood Reporter it’s a cheeky a response to the 2006 film romantic anthology Paris, je t’aime ( Paris I Love You ). The film will be produced by Darryn Welch ( Night Train ) and Mathieu Robinet ( Flawless ). Apparently the producers are pitching it as a possible franchise with sequels set in other cities around the world. Wonder how many sequels it’ll take before they end up in Wolverhampton.

Dave Golder
Freelance Writer

Dave is a TV and film journalist who specializes in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He's written books about film posters and post-apocalypses, alongside writing for SFX Magazine for many years.