Fresh off the reveal of his first foray into the superhero genre as the villain in Marvel's Moon Knight, Ethan Hawke isn't quite through with the headlines just yet. The veteran actor will now join the cast of the upcoming Blumhouse horror thriller, The Black Phone, which is set to begin shooting in February.
Details on the movie's plot are scarce, but Hawke will be working with director Scott Derrickson. This marks the first time Hawke and Derrickson had been on the same project in nearly a decade after the 2 had previously collaborated on 2012's Sinister, which recently earned the distinction as the scariest horror film according to science. Even with no real information on what The Black Phone will actually be about, the talent behind it alone is already enough to perk up a few ears.
This will mark the whopping 9th time Hawke has teamed up with producer Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions. Those times include the aforementioned Sinister as well as The Good Lord Bird, a Showtime miniseries adaptation of the novel of the same name. Hawke received critical acclaim for his performance as historical abolitionist John Brown in The Good Lord Bird, which focused on a group of freedom fighters trying to abolish slavery in the U.S., eventually sparking what would become the American Civil War.
Interestingly enough, Hawke wasn't the first Sinister alum to make the jump into superhero stories. Derrickson, the film's director, seemed to make his move into the genre much quicker than Hawke, eventually directing Doctor Strange in 2016. He is also set to direct the upcoming (and currently unnamed) sequel to 1986's surreal classic Labyrinth. Toss in his generally well-received 2005 film The Exorcism of Emily Rose and that's a rather satisfactory resume in the strange and scary.
Once again, little is known about The Black Phone, but based on Blumhouse's track record (which may soon include the story of a grieving Mexican mother turned vigilante), it's sure to be something a bit outside of the conventional. Both Hawke and Derrickson have proven that they're willing to explore outside of both their and the audience's comfort zones, which is sure to open the door to some fascinating new ideas.
Once again, The Black Phone begins shooting soon, so hopefully, its sparse details will begin to trickle out as production officially gets underway. But no matter what it entails, horror fans are sure to have something exciting to look forward to.
Source: Deadline