Fede Alvarez

It’s been six years since David Fincher brought us his adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Since then rumors have surfaced about recasting Rooney Mara‘s Lisbeth Salander, sales have skyrocketed for the Stieg Larsson book series, and last fall we got word that Don’t Breathe director Fede Alvarez was in talks to join the sequel. Today brings news that the long-awaited sequel is officially happening.

David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, adapted from Stieg Larsson’s novel of the same name, was supposed to become the next big franchise for adults, a hard-R-rated series dealing with adult topics and issues. The movie was fantastic, but didn’t do as well as the studio thought it should have, so any plans for a sequel have remained whispers until now. Screenwriter Steven Knight has confirmed that he is indeed working on a script for The Girl in the Spider’s Web, which will be a sequel, of sorts, to Dragon Tattoo, and Fede Alvarez, the director of this year’s Don’t Breathe who was being courted to direct, will helm the project.

Hard to believe now, but there was a time when The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was poised to be Hollywood’s next big franchise. David Fincher’s relentlessly bleak 2011 adaptation was a sizable hit for Sony and MGM, scored a handful of Oscar nominations (including a win for Best Film Editing and a Best Actress nod for Rooney Mara’s chilling turn as hacker Lisbeth Salander) and got copies of the novels flying off shelves faster than ever. But then Fincher moved to greener airport-novel pastures with Gone Girl, Mara ran off for an intimate but forbidden sapphic affair with Cate Blanchett (who can blame her!) in Carol, and the world continued spinning apace.

What if Rutger Hauer’s relatively absurd, visually-impaired martial arts badass from Blind Fury was besieged by a home invasion in his reclusive Early Bird Special years? The answer is — to an extent — Don’t Breathe, a thriller that skews a little more toward The Collector than David Fincher’s underrated Panic Room. The latest effort from director Fede Alvarez (the Evil Dead remake) is a relentlessly intense cat-and-mouse game with a couple of hard lefts thrown into its twisted domestic labyrinth. It’s a nasty little piece of work that needs to be a bit more lean and slightly less mean.

Three years after delivering his visceral remake of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead, director Fede Alvarez returns with Don’t Breathe, an inventive new thriller that puts a nasty spin on the home invasion genre. Alvarez’s latest follows three amateur criminals that get way more than they bargained for when they target the home of a reclusive blind man, played by the intimidating Stephen Lang. I had a chance to speak with Alvarez before a recent screening in Austin, Texas, where he discussed the making of his new film, Lang’s crucial role, and whether he thinks movie trailers are too revealing.

Ah yes, the red band trailer. When you absolutely, positively have to hear all the F-bombs a film can offer, the red band trailer is for you. And the latest preview for Don’t Breathe sure does love those F-bombs, but at least it’s found a somewhat clever way to incorporate them. if nothing else, the new trailer for the latest film from Evil Dead remake director Fede Alvarez is determined to let you know that things are about to get “really f—ed up.”

When it premiered at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival, ScreenCrush’s Britt Hayes called Don’t Breathe “an intense, relentless and confident thriller.” Giving the movie a very solid 7/10 rating, she also called it a “relentlessly intense cat-and-mouse game with a couple of hard lefts thrown into its twisted domestic labyrinth.” All that from Fede Alvarez, the guy who made the relentlessly intense Evil Dead remake. Sold!

A live-action film based on the Monsterpocalypse board game has been in various stages of development for several years, previously delayed due to similarities with Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim. But the adaptation of the hit robots vs. monsters game is once again picking up steam, with Evil Dead remake director Fede Alvarez attached to helm what has become the source of a fierce bidding war among major studios

Although Guillermo del Toro parted ways with Warner Bros. over his vision for Justice League Dark (aka Dark Universe), the studio is still reportedly planning on moving forward with del Toro’s script — but without (almost) everything else that would make it a del Toro film. The other day rumors began circulating about potential cast members, and now comes word that WB is eyeing possible directors for the project as well.

Ecstatic altogether though we are to have ol’ Groovy Bruce back in the saddle for Starz’s Ash vs. Evil Dead, one can’t help wonder if Ash might cross paths with the rebooted Evil Dead world. We’ve heard Sam Raimi say as much before, but are Ash and Mia going to be vs.-ing the Evil Dead any time soon?