Immediately following his starring turn in Season 2 of HBO’s smash-hit The White Lotus, Theo James is set to team with James Wan for a film adaptation of The Monkey, based on the short story of the same name by acclaimed horror author Stephen King.
While details on the film remain slim, a summary reads, “When twin brothers Hal and Bill discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths starts occurring all around them. The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them.” It is unclear who James is playing in the project, but additional casting is underway.
Wan, known throughout the film industry as a horror auteur, will collaborate with a number of talented faces for the project. Known throughout Hollywood for creating The Conjuring and Insidious franchises, Wan will produce The Monkey via his Atomic Monster banner alongside Michael Clear (M3GAN). Additional producers include C2 Motion Picture Group’s Jason Cloth (Joker) and Dave Caplan (Babylon). The film will be directed by Osgood Perkins, who is adapting King’s story for the big screen and also helmed the upcoming Nicolas Cage-led thriller Longlegs. Executive producers include Automatik’s Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger, Chris Ferguson, and Stars Collective’s Peter Luo and Nancy Xu. John Friedberg will also EP for Black Bear International, which will lead the film’s sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
Wan Has Long Been an Admirer of King’s Work
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Wan is adapting one of King’s stories, as he has expressed his admiration for the author. “Stephen King is the godfather of the horror genre. He had a huge influence on me as a child and throughout my career and it’s always been a dream to help bring one of his stories to life,” Wan said. “The Monkey is a personal favorite, with its simple, iconic, and incredibly marketable conceit. And I can’t imagine anyone better than a visionary and lifelong genre fan like Osgood to bring this to life.”
“We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Osgood, James, Brian and our friends at Black Bear International to present Stephen King’s The Monkey. It perfectly checks the box of what is working in the marketplace right now and will be a hot property,” Cloth and Caplan said. “We can’t wait for audiences to see Theo James in this role – he is really going to knock it out the park with an amazing performance.” James recieved worldwide recognition for his role as Cameron on Season 2 of The White Lotus, and will next lead Guy Ritchie’s television series The Gentleman for Netflix.