Update: Fernandez is not the only actor signing on: Thumbsucker's Lou Taylor Pucci is now in talks to play Eric, an intense intellectual type whose interest in the Book of the Dead helps get everyone in trouble...
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You might think that Shiloh Fernandez would have had enough of hanging around in dangerous wooded areas after Red Riding Hood. But you would be mistaken. He’s jumped at the chance to snatch one of the lead roles in the reboot of The Evil Dead.
And the film could use some actors, especially since Lily Collins dropped out near the end of January.
The plot will essentially revisit the world of Sam Raimi’s 1981 cult original, though minus Bruce Campbell’s Ash. It finds a group of teens holed up in a cabin who discover the Book Of The Dead and (because it wouldn’t be a horror movie otherwise) unleash terrible demons they can’t control.
Fede Alvarez, who wrote the script with Rodo Sayagues and had it polished by Diablo Cody, is preparing to direct the film, though it’ll likely start later than the original planned March schedule.
As for Fernandez, he followed up Riding Hood with mystery thriller The East and has also worked on comedy drama Syrup. According to Variety, he’s just signed on to Killer Films’ Deep Powder, which he’ll probably shoot before going off to Evil Dead. Mo Ogrodnik is writing and directing that one, and is keeping the plot details to himself. Bet it involves snow, though… Unless it’s about washing powder.