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Movies & TV

09th Jul 2017

The Irish director of Room has begun work on a horror movie with Domhnall Gleeson

These two working on a horror? Sign us up!

Rory Cashin

Once he got Oscar-nominated for Best Director, all eyes were on what this Irish director would do next.

We imagine just about every film company in Hollywood came knocking on Lenny Abrahamson’s door after the massive success of Room, with the view of getting him to take on Marvel, Star Wars or DC movie.

However, Abrahamson is sticking to his low-key roots, while also side-stepping into a brand new genre to play in: horror.

He’ll be following up Adam & Paul, Garage, What Richard Did, Frank and the Oscar-winning Room with The Little Stranger, based on a best selling novel by Lucinda Coxon.

The plot synopsis is as follows:

The story of Dr Faraday, the son of a housemaid, who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. During the long hot summer of 1948, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked.  The Hall has been home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries.  But it is now in decline and its inhabitants – mother, son and daughter – are haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life. When he takes on his new patient, Faraday has no idea how closely, and how terrifyingly, the family’s story is about to become entwined with his own.

Domhnall Gleeson will take on the leading role of Dr Faraday, while the mother, son and daughter will be played by Charlotte Rampling (Broadchurch), Will Poulter (The Revenant) and Ruth Wilson (The Affair), respectively.

We spoke to Lenny and Domhnall when they last worked together on the completely unique Frank, and it is obviously they’ve got a great working relationship already. So they idea of them working together on a scary movie has got us all kinds of excited.

Element Pictures is co-producing the movie, which has just begun filming this week in the UK.

Expect to see it in Irish cinemas sometime in 2018.

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