We’ve known for months that Sam Raimi was attached to produce a remake of 1978’s Magic. But today we learned he will also direct the film, which makes its future existence all the more exciting. The original, directed by Richard Attenborough, has become a cult classic thanks to its genuinely freaky exploration of the dynamic between an unstable magician named Corky (Anthony Hopkins, then an emerging screen talent) and his ventriloquist dummy, “Fats.”
Hopkins’ co-stars include Ann-Margret (as a childhood crush who suddenly reappears in his life) and Burgess Meredith (as his agent, who’s doomed by Fats’ hatred of him). Big shoes to fill, but if anyone can put together a killer cast, it’s definitely the guy who made the Evil Dead trilogy and the original Spider-Man trilogy, not to mention Send Help, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Drag Me to Hell, A Simple Plan, and more.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, who wrote Send Help for Raimi and who previously penned Freddy vs. Jason and the remake of Friday the 13th, wrote the script for Magic.” While that is not a standout track record as far as remakes go, Send Help was a surprisingly fun and extremely mean-spirited survival tale, which bodes well for their future output.
Hopefully that Send Help spirit will find its way into Magic; Corky feels like the sort of character who’d fit right into commentary on the current “loneliness epidemic.” That’s unsettling territory well worthy of framing in a horror context—with the added terror of a murderous ventriloquist dummy lurking around the edges. No word yet on who might star or when Magic might hit theaters, but nightmares seem all but guaranteed.
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