Fresh off the success of genre-darling Mandy, directed by Panos Cosmatos, Nicholas Cage has his eyes set on the H. P. Lovecraft short story “The Colour Out of Space” for a film adaptation. Titled Color Out of Space, The Hollywood Reporter states the “project reunites Cage with SpectreVision, the genre division of Company X,” the producers of Mandy.
The story of the adaptation is inspired by the original novella, but with some key differences. per The Hollywood Reporter article. The film will follow the Gardners who relocated to rural New England, only to have their lives disrupted by a meteorite that infects the land with a strange, otherworldly color that begins to effect the life around them.
Color Out of Space continues the trend of Lovecraftian adaptations in Hollywood. The star-power of Oscar winner Nicholas Cage will likely inspire a great deal of interest in the project among the industry.
Spectrevision released a teaser poster for the project on Instagram.
Perhaps the most interesting element of this news, however, is the announced writer and director. This is the first feature film directed by Richard Stanley in nearly 20 years. Stanley is best known for the classic indie sci-fi and horror films Hardware and Dust Devil.
However, Stanley is also known as the fired director of the 1996 adaptation of The Island of Dr. Moreau. The story of Stanley’s experiences on the set of Dr. Moreau was covered in the 2014 documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau.
Alongside Nicholas Cage, Joely Richardson, Tommy Chong, Julian Hilliard and Q’Orianka Kilcher are also set to star in Color Out of Space. Principle photography begins next month.
For more coverage of H. P. Lovecraft adaptations, please read our other articles.