Haunted (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo)

[Oscar Rothman]

EXCLUSIVE: DreamWorks is hiring Juan Carlos Fresnadillo to direct Haunted, a film that is inspired by the 1898 Henry James gothic ghost story Turn Of The Screw. Scripted by Chad Hayes & Carey Hayes, this is a passion project for Steven Spielberg, who really wanted to make a scary film. The pic’s being produced by Roy Lee, John Middleton and Scott Bernstein.

The Spanish filmmaker’s breakout pic was 28 Weeks Later; his Spanish-language directing debut was Intacto, this after he was Oscar nominated for his short film Linked. Lately he has been busy in TV: Fresnadillo directed the pilot Falling Water, which got picked up by USA Network and was done under his overall deal with Universal Cable Productions. He’s prepping to next direct Prototype, a UCP pilot for a Syfy series that he’s also exec producing.

Deadline