Come April 15th, the Hayes brothers – that’s Carey and Chad – will officially begin pre-production on their adaptation of The Caliph’s House. The project is going to mark the duo’s directorial debut after writing the House of Wax remake and The Reaping (coming April 5th) together for Warner Bros.’ Dark Castle.
Published by Bantam in early 2006, Tahir Shah’s “The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca” recounts Shah’s actual relocation from England to Morocco where he and his family settle in to a luxurious but somewhat dilapidated compound.
“It had been abandoned for fourteen years,” Chad tells us. “And it was abandoned because – and this was never disclosed to [Shah] – it was one of the most haunted villas in all of Casablanca. So, when he moved in, weird stuff started happening to him. He wrote the book in a humorous point of view and when we read it and spoke with Tahir, I said, ‘We’re not going to make a funny movie, this is a great set up for a scary film!'” And with Shah’s blessing, the two set about adapting the source material into what they’re calling a “supernatural thriller.” Although it’s unknown which company they’re doing the film for, the pair begin location scouting in Rajasthan, India (to “embrace the culture, check it out”) next month.
We’ll have more updates soon as ComingSoon.net muscles up its horror arm, ShockTillYouDrop.com, in the next few weeks!
