British director James Watkins, who made his debut last year with the thoroughly impressive, if thoroughly gruelling horror Eden Lake, has lined up his next trick – and it’s not what you might expect.

Instead of staying within the horror genre, Watkins has teamed up with his former boss, Harry Potter producer David Heyman, for the action thriller, Methuselah, with Warner Bros. coming on board to stump up the cash.

Not bad at all for the gifted Watkins, who started life as a development executive at Heyman’s company, Heyday. But then again, the story of Methuselah sounds like a doozy.

Inspired by the Biblical character who lived to over 1,000 years old before presenting Strictly Come Dancing, Watkins’ movie is “an elevated action thriller” about a protagonist who ages at a snail’s pace, picking up survival skills along the way. Skills that make him a nightmare for anyone who gets in his way, presumably.

"What I wanted was to come up with an adrenalized thriller that has a bit of intelligence and resonance," Watkins told Daily Variety. Only time will tell if he’s got it right, but if he can bring the same twisted spin to action as he did to horror with Eden Lake, then he’ll be fine.