Charlize Theron is now set to take over a role previously attached to Amy Adams in an adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s 2010 bestselling novel, DARK PLACES. The big-screen adaptation will be written and directed by Frenchman Gilles Paquet-Brenner. Flynn has also seen her novel GONE GIRL, catch the eye of David Fincher. The plot synopsis for DARK PLACES is officially described as follows:
I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ.
Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her.
The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details–proof they hope may free Ben–Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club… and maybe she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all.
As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members–including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started–on the run from a killer.
Adding more than a little touch of confusion is the fact rising stunner Jane Levy, who will headline April’s intense-looking EVIL DEAD remake, is now confirmed to lead psychological creepy doll horror, IN A DARK PLACE. That film will be directed by Bharat Nalluri, and follows an American woman who becomes the governess of an English household, looking after a perfect porcelain doll that she slowly comes to believe is actually alive.
We expect one of these projects will undergo a title change considering both are in the same genre and are sure to be released around the same time.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline
