FilmDistrict
It has not been brougthen. Well, apparently. Justin Kroll of Variety reports via via his Twitter (via /Film) that director Nicolas Winding Refn will not direct the poorly-named, loosely fact-based horror film The Bringing, freeing him up to make other films with (probably) better names. Refn was rumored for the gig last month, and although it sounds as if he got pretty far into the negotiation process with Sony, Kroll reports that Refn is off the film because “negotiations have stalled.”
The Bringing would have, ahem, brought Refn back to downtown Los Angeles (home of his Drive) and allowed the notorious horror fan to make a true scary story for the big screen. Penned by the Murphy brothers – Brandon Murphy and Phillip Murphy — the story is supposedly inspired by the creepy disappearance of Elisa Lam at downtown LA’s Cecil Hotel. Lam, a Canadian visiting the country, went missing back in February of 2013. Her body was eventually found in one of the water tanks on the roof the building, and the events surrounded her death remain veiled in mystery.
Of note, a little digging back over at /Film reminds us that the aims of the Murphys’ script still don’t seem (perhaps purposely?) clear. As they shared back in May, “the script doesn’t deal with the story of the girl found dead in the water tank, but it does feature ‘a man investigating a death at the hotel, and the nightmare he stumbles into.’ That story was precipitated by the news reports, and helped along by the hotel’s general history. (THR, on the other hand, says the death being investigated in the script is indeed the drowned woman.)” In any case, whatever The Bringing is, Refn is not going to make it.
It’s not the first time Refn has bowed out of a highly anticipated feature. Back in 2013, the director backed out of the Denzel Washington-starring Equalizer adaptation due to unknown reasons (though Refn’s hefty schedule appeared to be at least partly to blame). That film is now coming out later this year, directed by Antoine Fuqua. Refn has also been long-attached to another remake – Logan’s Run — so he certainly has more than enough to keep his plate quite full.
Refn also isn’t done with trying to make horror films just yet, he’ll next make the all-female I Walk With the Dead. Although details are slim, we do know that it will be a scary feature, and at least it has a snappy little title.
