Parker Finn, Robert Pattinson
Amy Sussman/Getty Images; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Paramount Pictures Inks Deals With Robert Pattinson and Smile filmmaker Parker Finn to direct remake of Possessthe 1981 cult film about psychological supernatural horror, written and directed by Polish filmmaker Andrzej Zulawski.
The deal comes in the shadow of a historic transaction in which parent company Paramount Global agreed to be acquired by a consortium led by Skydance. That deal will take about a year to complete, including navigating regulatory hurdles.
The Possess pact is personal for Paramount CEO Brian Robbins and film co-heads Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland, who have fought hard to keep Finn in the Paramount family. He is a homegrown talent, with Smile a surprise hit at Paramount in 2022.
Finn will write, direct and produce the script through his Bad Feeling banner. Pattinson will produce through his production company Icki Eneo Arlo. His acting involvement will be clarified later as the script and schedules develop.
Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment, who helped produce Zach Cregger’s breakthrough Barbarianwill also produce.
The package arrived in town in mid-June and quickly sparked a bidding war, with theater makers Warner Bros., Sony and Paramount among the final bidders, according to sources.
The original is set in West Berlin Possess starred Sam Neill as a spy who returns home from the field to his wife (Isabella Adjani) and son. Things aren’t quiet on the marriage front, as the wife asks for a divorce and the couple is thrown into a destructive cycle that includes not only infidelity and neglect, but also murder, a tentacled alien, and doppelgangers.
The film was Zulawski’s meditation on marriage, written as a response to his own crumbling relationship. The film, an international co-production between France and Germany, was neither a hit nor particularly well-received upon its release, but it gained cult status due to the filmmaker’s complete commitment to the premise and has undergone a reappraisal.
The deal marks a step up for Finn, who is in his post Smile 2 for Paramount and has a first-look deal with the studio. Possess wasn’t part of the first look, but the studio has seen Smile 2 and feels extremely high from it.
Possess is intended to be Finn’s next film. It will give Finn a larger scale, but sources say he hopes to keep an eye on an intimate story.
Finn is repped by CAA, Grandview and Jackoway Austen. Pattinson is repped by WME, 3 Arts Entertainment and CurtisBrown Group.