The director of Gretel & Hansel, Oz Perkins, wants to direct the next Friday the 13th movie. Perkins (son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins) started his career in Hollywood as an actor back in 1983 when he appeared as a young Norman Bates in Psycho II. Perkins appeared in a variety of films until 2014 when he then started focusing on writing and directing. Perkins has directed two horror films in his career: The Blackcoat’s Daughter and the Netflix Original I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House.
A new Friday the 13th movie has likely been in development ever since Paramount Pictures reacquired the rights to the franchise. Originally it was rumored that fans were going to get a found-footage style Friday the 13th, with a 2015 release date. That ended up not happening, but several directors and producers have been interested in coming on board the reboot. V/H/S director David Bruckner was one of the first directors to be apart of the project, and later Breck Eisner (The Last Witch Hunter) was in talks to direct instead. Other notable names like Jason Blum and LeBron James have talked about producing Friday the 13th. Now another director is interested in the movie.
When talking with Bloody Disgusting on their Boo Crew podcast, Perkins talked about how he would want to direct the Friday the 13th reboot, saying, “I would do that. I’d be thrilled to do that. That’s probably the one for me. I didn’t want to do Halloween, for instance. I felt like that had been done. Jason is my guy. Also, it’s the 13th one. Just call it ‘13’ or something.” He also revealed that he had read the Friday the 13th script from Aaron Guzikowski, explaining, “The screenplay that I read was written by the guy who wrote Prisoners, and it was good. It was sort of a remake of the original, and that’s what I’d want to do. Kinda remake the original, with the mom, and the camp, and all the stuff. And put it in the period. Yeah. Maybe.”
Perkins also discussed the legal dispute that is currently happening with Friday the 13th, which is the main reason why a film hasn’t seen production yet. The original film’s director Sean S. Cunningham and writer Victor Miller are currently fighting for the rights to the franchise. Miller tried to reclaim the rights to his work since it has been 35 years since Friday the 13th was released, but Cunningham claimed that Miller’s script was a work for hire, meaning he has no claim to the franchise. However, the legal battle could be over soon since the Friday the 13th legal case is going to court again in a few weeks.
The three films Perkins has directed haven’t gotten stellar reviews, but having a fresh director on a franchise as stale as Friday the 13th might be a good thing. Perkins is also clearly a fan of Jason, which is important when directing a new film in a popular franchise that people have been waiting over a decade for. Perkins may or may not get a shot to direct Friday the 13th, but either way, fans just want to see Jason on the big screen again.
More: Friday the 13th Remake’s Weirdest Jason Change Explained
Source: Bloody Disgusting
