Like so many iconic genre films before it, Andrew Fleming's cult 1996 teen horror-thriller The Craft has a remake in the works, this one with Honeymoon helmer Leigh Janiak attached to co-write and direct. But as producer Douglas Wick tells HitFix, the word “remake” doesn't quite do the project justice.
“I wouldn't say that we wouldn't so much call it a remake as a 'twenty years later,'” Wick told us during an interview for the 20th anniversary of the seminal teen classic. He continued later: “There will be callbacks to the original movie, so you will see there is a connection between what happened in the days of The Craft, and how these young women come across this magic many years later.”
Wick, who also produced the original film, additionally gave us a sense of the specific angle that Janiak (Honeymoon) and her co-writer Phil Graziedi are bringing to the update, which was first reported last May:
“Here are some young women who once again discover the power of magic, and we explore their emotional lives, their wants, their fears, their longings, as they become empowered,” he continued. “So you know, the same way you use a war movie to explore the psyche of men, you get to create a heightened world to explore the psyche of these women. And so that seemed like an opportunity that was ripe and a way to make a movie that would be very much about now. And of course, part of that was just finding a talent that felt like enough of a real talent that you'd really be interested in her interpretation of this kind of story now, and of course Leigh is exactly that.”
In addition to Wick, we also spoke with original star Rachel True and director Andrew Fleming about the developing remake/indirect sequel (if you haven't already, please check out our special video piece on the original film's 20th anniversary above), and while both expressed support for the project — “I'm like, hey, go for it,” Fleming told us — True has some reservations about the idea.
“I'm kind of over remakes in general, but I also want to be supportive,” she said. “If they think it's a good idea, Sony, to remake it, then they should, and it'll probably be awesome. But I just feel like, why not do another witch movie?”
While on the subject of the remake, True also revealed that not only has she had conversations about paganism with Warlock star Julian Sands (!), but that both agreed a direct sequel would be a more interesting way to go. “Like, I'd love to see what the girls are up to now that they're women,” said True, who believes Rochelle would now be “running a makeup-y, perfume company,” “because I think that women are super powerful as well. They're in — we're in our sexuality. We own it, as opposed to girls who are a little shy about it. So I would love to see what the same group of women are up to now.”
Acknowledging “that will never happen,” True did offer an intriguing casting idea for the “new Rochelle” (who of course will still be Rachel True in the new film — whether True appears onscreen or not — given that it takes place in the same timeline): Divergent and Mad Max: Fury Road star Zoe Kravitz, the Hollywood offspring of Lisa Bonet (a friend of True's) and Lenny Kravitz.
“I used to…babysit her and I used to make her run lines with me,” she said, adding: “Literally, I remember making six year old, five year old Zoe, like, 'Here, read this! Read this with me, I have an audition.' So I would love to see her play — I think she has the sensibilities to play that part.”
You can watch our full 20th anniversary video on The Craft below.