KUALA LUMPUR: Acclaimed Indonesian filmmaker Joko Anwar is set to write and direct his first Hollywood production.
According to Deadline, the director behind popular horror films Pengabdi Setan and Perempuan Tanah Jahanam will be taking on an adaptation of
Charles Beaumont's classic short story, Fritzchen.
Village Roadshow Pictures is set to produce the project which will also mark Joko's first ever English-language work.
The story will be adapted into a script by Michael Voyer and produced by David Kopple for Entertainment 360.
The 46-year-old filmmaker said that the producers at Village Roadshow had been following his films and wanted to work with him for a long time.
"Last year, they had a sci-fi horror project that they thought would be suitable for me to make.
"Then they contacted my agent in the US, the Creative Artist Agency (CAA), we met, and we turned out to be suited to one another," he said.
Published in 1953, Fritzchen chronicles a young boy's encounter with a strange creature on a beach.
The upcoming film is said to feature sci-fi and horror elements although much of the plot is being kept under wraps.
Joko's supernatural movie Pengabdi Setan, which was a loose remake of the 1980 cult classic of the same name, became the highest-grossing Indonesian film of 2017.
It was reported that the film was also the highest-grossing Indonesian film ever to be released in Malaysia.