Robert Zemeckis, the director of the Back to the Future films, is in talks to direct the movie adaption of Roald Dahl’s THE WITCHES.
It looks like Warner Bros. is looking to making a successful Roald Dahl adaptation with The Witches, and veteran director Robert Zemeckis. The book was first published in 1983, and is about a young boy and his grandmother who take on a battle between some child-hating witches.
This will be the second time the book will be adapted into a movie as there was a previous loosely-adapted version back in 1990 which starred Academy Award winner Angelica Houston. According to Variety, the Zemeckis version is going to be more true to the Dahl book.
Zemeckis will adapt the book along with partner Jack Rapke under his film studio ImageMovers.
Witches absolutely detest children. To a witch, a child smells like dogs’ droppings. And now the Grand High Witch is planning to get rid of every child in England – can anybody stop them?
In 1983, the year it was published, The Witches won three awards: The New York Times Outstanding Books Award, The Federation of Children’s Book Groups Award and The Whitbread Award.
Zemeckis last directed 2016’s Allied, which starred Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. His next film is this fall’s animated/live-action dramedy Welcome to Marwen starring Steve Carell and Leslie Mann.
