A couple of months ago it was revealed that following his foray into vampire territory with Let Me In, Cloverfield director wanted to delve further into the world of bloodsuckers with The Passage. At the time Reeves was said to be supervising a rewrite of John Logan’s script, which is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Justin Cronin.
Now its been revealed that screenwriter Jason Keller has been hired to to write The Passage. While THR has the news, they don’t specify whether this is a rewrite of Logan’s screenplay (which was originally commissioned when Ridley Scott was considering directing), or if he’s going back to square one and starting over. Keller also wrote the upcoming Machine Gun Preacher along with Tarsem’s Untitled Snow White Project.
Set 100 years from now, The Passage follows what happens when a scientific experiment goes wrong, creating a horde of blood-hungry vampires set on destroying the world. It begins with a group of terminally ill cancer patients being treated with South African bat bites, with the hope of extending their lives. At first this seems like the perfect cure, but it soon turns out that the treatment is breeding an unstoppable army of indestructible bloodsuckers who can also read minds. Before long, they set out to infect the entire populace of the world.
The movie has franchise potential as well, so it’s a bit of a priority for Fox, as The Passage is the first novel in a planned trilogy by Justin Cronin.
It still isn’t known when the movie might shoot.