Michael Douglas’ production company, Further Films, has announced that it’s working on an adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s 1962 novel, We Have Always Lived In The Castle. Mark Kruger has penned the screenplay, based on the book about the Blackwood family. who have been forced into seclusion after the poisoning of several of their relatives six year before.
18-year-old Merricat now looks after her agoraphobic sister Connie (who many believe killed the majority of her family) as well as he ailing, slightly demented uncle Julian. However disaster looms when a distant cousin arrives looking to secure the Blackwood fortune.
It’s a nifty little tale and it’s fairly surprising it’s never been made into a film before. While Shirley Jackson is probably best known for her story, The Lottery (in which a small town celebration is more lethal than it initially appears), and for writing the book that Robert Wise’s 1963 classic, The Haunting, is based, relatively few of her stories have made it to the screen. She has however been a major influence on the likes of Stephen King and Neil Gaiman.
At the moment no director has been announced for the movie version, and the producers are apparently looking for actors to play the main roles. As it’s farily early in production, there’s no news on when We Have Always Lived In The Castle might appear in cinemas.