Oscar nominated filmmaker Henry Selick has been tapped to direct A Tale of Dark & Grimm, a live-action film based on the children’s book by Adam Gidwitz.
Although this is something different for the director behind The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, the plot sounds right up his alley. According to TheWrap, the book is a funny, yet dark take on Grimm Brothers stories, with two children who run away from their own fairy tale and fall into eight other stories.
Marissa McMahon of Kamala Films is financing and producing with FilmNation Entertainment’s Aaron Ryder and Karen Lunder, reports Variety. The script was penned by John W. Mann and Jon Gunn with Selick.
“I remain completely enraptured by Adam Gidwitz’s marvelous book A Tale Dark & Grimm. It’s a hilarious, deeply inventive tale about survival in the world of fairytales and what it takes to forgive one’s parents,” Selick said in a statement. “So it’s a huge thrill to be joining the team of Kamala Films and FilmNation as the director of the film based on it. Between the great material and a team that really gets it, I hope to make something really special that lasts.”
Selick is a master at stop-motion animation, making his feature directing debut with Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. His other credits include James and the Giant Peach, Monkeybone and the Oscar-nominated Coraline. He recently parted ways with Disney after the studio shut down a project he was working on in August 2012.
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