Director Mary Harron Reuniting With ‘American Psycho’ Screenwriter for Manson Family Movie

Mary Harron knows a few things about the struggles of being a woman in Hollywood. Like many of her fellow female filmmakers, Harron hasn’t had the easiest time getting projects off the ground. After making an assertive debut with I Shot Andy Warhol, she went on to helm the critically-acclaimed American Psycho, and since then has stuck mostly to television, where she’s directed episodes of shows like Big Love and The Following, and the HBO film The Notorious Bettie Page. At long last, Harron is finally developing a new film project, one that reunites her with American Psycho co-writer Guinevere Turner, the duo once again exploring the darker, more murderous side of humanity.

Harron’s last feature effort was 2011's underwhelming horror-fantasy flick The Moth Diaries, which might as well have been made for television given its small release and similarly small production value. It felt like a shadow of Harron’s former self, but the director could be making a bold return as Deadline reports that she’s teaming up with her American Psycho co-writer Guinevere Turner for The Family.

The film centers on a graduate student named Karlene Faith who works with three of the young women in the Manson Family cult following the group’s murder spree which resulted in the death of nine people, including actress Sharon Tate. Manson’s acolytes committed the murders on Charles Manson’s orders, and found themselves manipulated and brainwashed by the charismatic sociopath and his psychotic perception of the world around him.

Turner is basing her script on Faith’s own non-fiction book The Long Prison Journey of Leslie van Houten: Life Beyond The Cult, as well as Ed Sanders’ controversial non-fiction book about the cult, simply titled The Family. Shooting is set to begin this summer in Los Angeles, and casting is currently underway, so it shouldn’t be long before we have another update on this highly-anticipated project.