Philip K. Dick’s Daughter Is Bringing This Creepy Short Story To The Big Screen
This article is more than 2 years old
Philip K. Dick is, obviously, a sci-fi icon, and his work has become favorite genre films like Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report, among others. One of his most beloved books, The Man in the High Castle is being turned into a series by Amazon, but there’s another Dick adaptation in the works that sounds intriguing, and even has members of his family on board.
Dick’s daughter, Isa Dick Hackett, is on board to produce an adaptation of her father’s short story “The Crawlers.” To be honest, I’m not familiar with this particular story, but the description over at the Wrap sounds promising as hell, not to mention a wee bit crazy.
The story was first published in 1954, and the team of Kalen Egan and Travis Sentell worked on the script that sounds like a gruesome creature feature. In a small town of Boyle, Texas, the inhabitants have started giving birth to “crawlers,” abnormal children with long, pale bodies and stingers, and they build hives. A government land surveyor stumbles upon this scene and discovers the hidden, bizarre history of the place. It’s described by the folks involved as “a riff on the small-town monster movie with a twist of Texas noir horror.”
Hackett says, “The Crawlers, a psychological horror film in the tradition of Rosemary’s Baby and Don’t Look Now, is the first horror film based on my father’s work. His grand theme around what it means to be human is fully examined in this dark and poignant tale.”
This isn’t he first time she has worked to bring her father’s stories to the screen. She executive produced The Adjustment Bureau, based on the short story “Adjustment Team,” serves the same capacity on The Man in the High Castle, and is developing an adaptation of his novel Ubik. But she’s also far from alone in this Crawlers venture, as veteran producer Edward Pressman (The Crow, Conan the Barbarian) is along for the ride. He says, “As a long-time fan of Philip K. Dick’s storytelling, I am honored to partner with his daughter, Isa, to bring this unique piece of his work to the screen.”
Jason Lapeyre (Cold Blooded, I Declare War) is on board to direct, and though no cast is currently in place, there is work being done, as people are already moving on production design and special effects. Visual artist Patricia Piccinini is going to design the crawler creatures, and Emmy-winner Steven Johnson (War of the Worlds) and Robert L. Lucas of Brick and Mortal Productions will work on effects.
There’s no word on the timeline for The Crawlers, but you can bet this is one we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on, and we’ll let you know more as we find it out. Have you read the story? If you have, let us know what you think about this idea in the comments.
