Kat Candler is set to rewrite and direct Fox Searchlight’s “,” sources tell Variety.
The pic is inspired by a 1936 New Yorker article written by journalist and bestselling author Carl Carmer about the first documented haunted house.
The story follows a jaded reporter who, after having a disturbing encounter that raises the prospect that his dead son may be trying to make contact from the afterlife, travels upstate to New York to a remote town considered the mecca of the American spiritual/occultist movement. As the reporter’s cynicism gives way to the hope of reuniting with his son, he becomes the target of various forces attempting to manipulate him, including one that is much more dangerous than the dead.
JT Petty wrote the original script with a rewrite by Antonio Campos.
Jeremy Steckler of Condé Nast Entertainment is producing the project and David Greenbaum. DanTram Nguyen will oversee production for Fox Searchlight.
In television, Candler oversaw Season 2 as the producing director of Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey’s highly acclaimed “Queen Sugar” and served as showrunner in Season 3. She has also directed “13 Reasons Why.”
Candler’s award winning feature “Hellion” starring Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis played in competition in Sundance and was released theatrically through IFC Films.
She is represented by ICM Partners and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman.