British director Mike Newell has enjoyed a long and varied career defined by such hits as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Two years after making his take on Great Expectations, he’ll embark on another adaptation, only this one concerns a classic science fiction work.
Deadline reports that Newell will bring author John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids to the big screen for Ghost House Pictures. Published in 1951, the novel takes place on Earth after an apocalyptic comet shower blinds most of the world’s population. Those who can still see are left to battle a monstrous species of alien plants known as Triffids that are bent on destroying mankind. The book was previously turned into a 1962 film starring Howard Keel, and inspired two miniseries.
The development comes four years after Ghost House tried to produce the project with company head Sam Raimi as director. It’s uncertain why that arrangement fell through, but at least the remake is back on with Newell, who will work off the original script by Mama writer Neil Cross.
Do you think Newell is a wise choice to direct Day of the Triffids?