An exclusive from The Hollywood Reporter broke that horror aficionado, Adam Wingard, has been hired to helm Legendary Pictures' Godzilla vs. Kong. Wingard is known for his indie-thriller and horror contributions such as segments from the V/H/S movies and The ABCs of Death (2013). He garnered strong interest from studios after his cult hit The Guest (2014), starring Beauty and the Beast's Dan Stevens. The Guest was met with strong critical acclaim which led to Wingard rebooting the Blair Witch in 2016.
His latest project is the upcoming Death Note movie based on the popular Japanese manga and anime. The film will debut on Netflix this August.
The Hollywood Reporter adds,
Wingard’s stock has been rising among the studio set, and he has been in the mix of some high-profile directing gigs, Sony's Venom among them, as execs and producers have become eager to work with him.
Wingard is said to be a massive creature-feature fan of both Godzilla and Kong movies and nabbing the project, one of the larger-budgeted franchises out there, should be a dream come true.
The decision to hire Wingard is in line with Legendary's track record of finding lesser known, talented filmmakers. Gareth Edwards (Godzilla '14) and Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) were small time indie directors before their respective MonsterVerse entries. Edwards has since directed a Star Wars spin-off and Vogt-Roberts is attached to develop a Metal Gear film. Wingard fits the same bill of new, upcoming talent inspired by monster franchises that Legendary has been digging up.
This past spring Terry Rossio led a writer's room to develop a story for Godzilla vs. Kong. He recently commented on the experience and must have made enough of an impact for Legendary to lock a director.
So what do you think of the choice to take the reigns after Godzilla: King of the Monsters? Is Wingard a solid pick to you? Will he do the monsters and Ishiro Honda's original film proud? Sound off below!
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Source:
The Hollywood Reporter
