Wed Dec 3, 2008 — by Robert Greenberger

'The Witches' Adds del Toro to Cuaron

Roald Dahl Novel goes Stop-Motion

Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) has given up his plans to direct an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches and has decided to produce it instead. Stepping in to direct the stop-motion film will be Hollywood’s busiest man, Guillermo del Toro.

Cuaron told England’s Empire magazine, “Well I am involved with Guillermo del Toro, but as a producer, not director. I think it started because I've always wanted to do a version of Roald Dahl's very naughty ‘Uncle Oswald’. So we were talking to Lucy Dahl, when we got onto the subject of The Witches. Then Guillermo wrote this amazing screenplay really quickly. It won’t be like the original Nicholas Roeg version, which was a beautiful film -- because Guillermo wants to do it completely in stop- motion animation. I'm excited about it- I really hope we can put it together.”

The 1983 novel was turned into a 1990 live-action film directed by Nicolas Roeg and starred Angelica Huston in the tale of a young boy trapped in a hotel during a convention of witches. Given the subject matter, it’s no surprise the charming story appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number twenty-seven.

Be the first person to comment!