Amazingly, the life story of Harry Houdini has never been brought to the big screen (at least not since George Marshall’s take way back in 1953), but Sony have enlisted Max Landis to work on a new draft of their biopic, Houdini.
Landis is of course best known for writing Chronicle, the Josh Trank helmed found footage movie which delivered a refreshing take on the superhero genre. His next movie is Frankenstein, the Paul McGuigan-directed movie that stars James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe. Deadline reveals that his take on Houdini will apparently have an “HP Lovecraft influence,” although any other details are scarce at this point.
The original draft was scripted by Scott Frank (The Wolverine), while Francis Lawrence was attached to direct before signing up to direct The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and the two-part The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. There’s currently no word on who might direct it now.
Summit are also working on a Houdini movie, although their take is based on the William Kalush and Larry Sloman book, The Secret Life Of Houdini: The Making Of America’s First Superhero.
