Back in January, the news broke that Universal was taking another swing at rebooting the studio’s classic monsters after the disastrous box office performance of 2017’s The Mummy ensured that the Dark Universe wouldn’t last beyond one movie. Among the previously scrapped projects that are back in development is The Invisible Man, with Blumhouse Productions now taking the reins, having successfully resurrected the Halloween franchise last year.
Back in the days when the Dark Universe still had a potential future ahead of it, Johnny Depp was enlisted to play the title character, but while the Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald actor is no longer attached, it seems that Blumhouse is already courting another major star for reboot.
Variety broke the news earlier today that Golden Globe winner Elisabeth Moss is in early talks to come on board for Leigh Whannell’s film. The article stresses that negotiations are still in the “extremely early” stages, but should they move forward, Blumhouse will have made quite a catch, given the hot streak that the Mad Men star has been on lately, from Top of the Lake, to The Handmaid’s Tale, to Jordan Peele’s upcoming horror movie Us.
Though it could be a while before we get any confirmation on Moss’s involvement, it’s already looking like Blumhouse is taking a drastically different approach with The Invisible Man than the previously planned Dark Universe feature. Earlier this year, it was reported that Universal is putting a lot less emphasis on the interconnectivity of its monster movies and placing more faith in the distinctive visions of creative directors. And with the involvement of Upgrade helmsman Leigh Whannell, we can see that they aren’t all talk.
So far, the project has our curiosity, but as we await further details, you can see Moss cross paths with a very different set of monsters when Us comes out on March 22nd.