Paramount Pictures is closing deals with Robert Pattinson and Smile filmmaker Parker Finn to tackle a remake of Possession, the cult 1981 psychological supernatural horror movie written and directed by Polish filmmaker Andrzej Zulawski.
The deal is being made in the shadow of the landmark transaction that saw parent company Paramount Global agree to be acquired by a consortium led by Skydance. That deal will take about a year to complete, including clearing regulatory hurdles.
The Possession pact is personal for Paramount CEO Brian Robbins and motion picture co-heads Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland, who fought hard to keep Finn in the Paramount family. He’s a homegrown talent, with Smile becoming a surprise hit at Paramount in 2022.
Finn will write the script, direct and produce via his Bad Feeling banner. Pattinson will produce via his production company Icki Eneo Arlo. His acting involvement will be clarified down the road as the script and schedules develop.
Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee, who helped produce Zach Cregger’s breakout Barbarian, will also produce, as will Pattinson’s Icki Eneo Arlo partner Brighton McCloskey.
The package hit the town in mid-June, quickly eliciting a bidding war. According to sources, theatrical players Warner Bros., Sony, and Paramount were the final bidders.
Set in West Berlin, the original Possession starred Sam Neill as a spy who returns home from the field to his wife (Isabella Adjani) and son. All is not quiet on the marital front, as the wife asks for a divorce and the couple descends into a destructive cycle that not only includes infidelity and neglect, but spins into murder, a tentacled alien creature and doppelgangers.
The movie was Zulawski’s meditation on marriage, written as a reaction to his own crumbling relationship. The movie, an international co-production between France and Germany, was not a hit nor particularly well-received when it was released, but it gained a cult status for the filmmaker’s full commitment to the premise and went through a reappraisal.
The deal marks a leveling up for Finn, who is in post on Smile 2 for Paramount and has a first-look deal with the studio. Possession was not part of the first-look, but the studio has seen Smile 2 and feels tremendously high on it.
Possession is intended to be Finn’s next movie. It will afford Finn a bigger scale, but sources say he hopes to keep an eye on an intimate story.
Finn is repped by CAA, Grandview and Jackoway Austen. Pattinson is repped by WME, 3 Arts Entertainment and CurtisBrown Group.
