Robert Downey Jr.-Produced ‘A Head Full of Ghosts’ Sets Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala as Directors, Fifth Season Financing

“A Head Full of Ghosts,” an adaptation of Paul Tremblay’s Bram Stoker Award-winning novel, will be directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala.

The horror feature will be adapted and directed by Franz and Fiala, the filmmaking duo best known for horror-thriller hit, “Goodnight Mommy,” which was selected as Austria’s 2014 Oscar entry, and the Riley Keough-led “The Lodge,” which premiered at Sundance and was acquired by Neon in 2019. Their next film, “The Devil’s Bath,” is competing for the Golden Bear at the ongoing Berlin Film Festival.

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The film is produced by Team Downey and The Allegiance Theater. Fifth Season is financing development and production. Producers are Daniel Dubiecki and Lara Alameddine from The Allegiance Theater, Susan Downey and Robert Downey Jr. for Team Downey, and David Gambino.

The story follows the Barretts, whose normal suburban New England life is torn apart when their teenage daughter shows signs of acute schizophrenia, reluctantly leading them to be the subjects of a reality show, “The Possession.” Some 15 years later, Merry faces her family’s haunting past when a journalist is assigned to help tell her side of the story and uncovers the very nature of evil.

The novel was published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, in 2015. In addition to the Bram Stoker Award, Tremblay has won the British Fantasy Award and Massachusetts Book Award. Tremblay’s other books include the bestselling “The Cabin at the End of the World,” which was adapted by M. Night Shyamalan in 2023 as “Knock at the Cabin”; “The Pallbearers Club”; “Survivor Song”; “Disappearance at Devil’s Rock”; “The Little Sleep”; “No Sleep Till Wonderland”; and the short story collections “Growing Things and Other Stories” and “The Beast You Are.”

“A Head Full of Ghosts” was set up in 2020 with Cross Creek, Team Downey and The Allegiance Theater, with STX to distribute in the U.S. and U.K. At that time, the director was Scott Cooper and Margaret Qualley was attached to star.

Franz and Fiala are represented by WME as is Team Downey. Tremblay is represented by Stephen Barbara at InkWell Management.

Production is set to begin later this year. A cast has not been revealed yet.

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