[dropcap size=small]P[/dropcap]roduction is currently underway on A Monster Calls, the film adaptation of the beloved, award-winning children’s fantasy book by Patrick Ness.
Ness has adapted the story for the big-screen, and the film will be helmed by Spanish film director Juan Antonio Bayona. While Bayona may not yet be a household name here in the states, he is best known here for his 2007 film The Orphanage (with Guillermo del Toro as executive producer) and more recently, 2012’s The Impossible.
We can all let out a collective “Oooooh, that guy!”
The Orphanage (2007)
The film will star Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, and Liam Neeson — who will provide performance-capture and voiceover for the titular monster.
A Monster Calls follows 12-year-old Conor (Lewis MacDougall) who attempts to cope with his mother’s (Felicity Jones) illness and bullying at school by escaping into a fantastical world filled with monsters and other fairy tale creatures. The story goes on to explore deeper elements such as courage, loss, and faith.
Those familiar with Bayona’s work will be pleased to hear that the film will reunite him with much of his creative team from The Impossible and The Orphanage.
Also joining the collaboration is production is designer Eugenio Caballero, who won an Academy Award for his work on Guillermo del Toro’s phenomenal film Pan’s Labyrinth.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
With this creative powerhouse behind the wheel of A Devil Calls, audiences can expect a visually spectacular film that is equally whimsical as it is terrifying.
Star Felicity Jones told ComingSoon.net that A Monster Calls “will have some of the same horror and genre elements that Bayona became known for with his first film, The Orphanage.”
A Monster Calls is slated for a domestic release by Focus Features on October 14, 2016.
