Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) may be itching to join James Gunn’s Suicide Squad 2, but for now he will get to live out his fantasies with the rest of the growing cast of Sony and Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island, the big screen adaptation of the campy ABC series that ran from 1977-1984. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news.
Per the report, the feature project is described as being a tonal mix of Westworld meets The Cabin in the Woods, centering on a group of contest winners who arrive at an island hotel to live out their dreams, only to find themselves trapped in nightmare scenarios.
Bautista will play a former guest who is still on the island against his will and who is determined to expose its secrets. The actor joins recently cast Michael Pena, who is set to star as Mister Roarke, the island’s mysterious host played by Ricardo Montalban in the original TV show. Jimmy O. Yang (Crazy Rich Asians) also signed on.
Jeff Wadlow (Truth or Dare) will direct the big screen adaptation from a script he is writing with Chris Roach and Jillian Jacobs.
The Fantasy Island TV series dealt with dark themes and the supernatural with a little bit of cheesiness as visitors would come to the island to live out their fantasies. Guests could request any fantasy on the unique resort island in the Pacific Ocean, overseen by the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize’s Tattoo, but those fantasies rarely turned out as expected as visitors found themselves facing challenges that tested their character.
Blumhouse’s recent features include The First Purge, Unfriended: Dark Web, and Upgrade. Upcoming projects include the return of Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode in the Halloween sequel, M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass starring Bruce Willis, James McAvoy, and Samuel L. Jackson in the third installment of a trilogy that includes previous features Unbreakable and Split, and Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman.
