Robert Pattinson Teams Up With SMILE Director for a Remake of the 1981 Horror Film POSSESSION

Smile filmmaker Parker Finn is teaming up with Robert Pattinson to remake the 1981 cult supernatural horror film Possession, which was written and directed by Andrzej Żuławski.

Finn is set to write and direct the film with Pattinson producing. The actor may eventually star in the film, but that will be decided later on as the script is developed.

The project has a lot of attention in Hollywood right now with a bidding war breaking out among A24, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros., and other companies.

THR reports that the “reception to the pitches has been extremely positive, with execs talking about the ‘batshit’ and ‘out there’ story but also its strong commercial potential.”

The original film is set in West Berlin, and Sam Neill stars as a spy who returns home from the field to his wife and son. All is not quiet on the marital front as the wife asks for a divorce and the couple next descends into a destructive cycle that not only includes infidelity and neglect but spins into murder, a tentacled alien creature and doppelgangers.

The original film is said to be Żuławski’s meditation on marriage, and he wrote it as a reaction to his own crumbling marriage.

It’s explained that Finn, who is in post-production on Smile 2, is looking for a project that is “more expansive and elevated but also still intimate.” He sees something in Possession, and it will be interesting to see how he handles the story and what kind of new spin he’ll put in the story.