Sony announced last summer that they were getting ready to reboot The Grudge, a supernatural/horror movie which had originally starred Sarah Michelle Gellar. The movie may have found its new lead, actress Andrea Riseborough. The Grudge is based on a Jeff Buhler script with Nicolas Pesce coming onboard to help rewrite as well as direct. In addition, Sam Raimi and his Ghost House Pictures will step in to produce.
Surely everyone remembers the surreal scary movie, The Grudge, which was about an American social worker who had moved to Tokyo in order to live and work. While there, she becomes involved with a supernatural force, cursing her and creating a violent, irresistible homicidal rage. Both of which were directed by Takashi Shimizu, the movie was an American version of a Japanese horror movie called Ju-on: The Grudge. Sony had two unsuccessful attempts at sequels and now they are ready to remake the movie, rebooting the storyline and finding a new lead.
According to reports, Riseborough is in discussions pertaining to starring in the new version of The Grudge. Instead of being like Gellar’s character Karen Davis, who was living with her boyfriend in Tokyo as a social worker, Riseborough’s character would be that of a single mother who works as a detective. As yet, it’s unknown rather the remake will keep the murdered son and mother characters of Kayako and Toshio who were killed by their father/husband and as such, were the curse’s carriers.
It seems The Grudge isn’t the only movie Riseborough is considering. It is also a possibility that she may also play Emma Landry, who is an operations manager in her family’s financial empire. The miniseries is called Zero, Zero, Zero and is one of Amazon-Sky’s. It’s based on Roberto Saviano’s book about the world of international cocaine trafficking.
The Grudge began way back in 1998, starting with two short Japanese horror movies, one titled 4444444444 and the other Katasumi. They serve as the foundation to the rest of the movie’s franchise, with Ju-On as the first full-length addition. It introduced the story of the mother, son, and their subsequent murder. The last installment in The Grudge franchise was actually released in 2016 and was a mix of Ju-On and the Ring. Sony’s remix will be the thirteenth movie to grace the franchise.
As far as Riseborough, she has previously starred mostly in comedy and drama movies, such as Nocturnal Animals, Birdman, and the Battle of the Sexes. She also most recently played Mia in the episode “Crocodile” in Netlfix’ anthology series Black Mirror, where she helped to cover up a deadly hit and run. Years after the initial incident, she becomes involved in a series of related, albeit complicated, events. However, The Grudge would be her first horror movie role.
Unfortunately, fans of The Grudge franchise will have to wait until more details emerge before knowing any more about the storyline. It’s not known at this time whether or not they’ll stick to Kayako’s original story or not. Nonetheless, Riseborough’s news of being in talks to star front and center is definitely a great first step. In addition, maybe this will urge other supernatural and/or horror films to reboot or remake their successful movies as well. It seems this Grudge remake is going to receive a wider audience than the others that came before and it could turn out to be the same for other older movies in the genre. It seems like we’ll just have to wait and see!
One thing we do know for sure, the curse continues! However, no title or release date has been announced yet, another wait and see scenario.
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