The news arrived last autumn that Luca Guadagnino had inherited the remake of Suspiria that once had David Gordon Green attached. While Guadagnino didn't quite get into production by the end of 2015 as he'd intended, he says his new take on the Dario Argento classic remains a definite priority, and has now revealed that Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson - both of whom starred in his A Bigger Splash - will be joining him on the project.
Argento's 1977 original involves Jessica Harper's Suzy, who arrives in Freiburg to attend a renowned ballet academy, only to discover that it's a front for a powerful coven of witches. It marked the beginning of the director's Three Mothers trilogy, followed by Inferno (1980) and The Mother Of Tears (2007).
There's no confirmation of who's playing whom yet, but you'd have to assume that Johnson is in the frame for Suzy, with Swinton the icily scary dance instructor Miss Tanner (previously played by Alida Valli).
"The film by Dario Argento was a very indicative moment of growing up for me because I saw it when I was 14," the director told Empire last year. "I think it changed me forever. I was obsessed [with Argento] through all my adolescence. [My version] is going to be set in Berlin in 1977. It’s going to be about the mother and the concept of motherhood and about the uncompromising force of motherhood. It’s going to be about finding your inner voice – the title is very evocative on these grounds."
The minimalist composer John Adams will provide the score, meaning the new Suspiria will sound very different to Argento's too. No insane Goblin music this time. Like Swinton and Johnson, Adams has worked with Guadagnino before, on 2009's I Am Love.
Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash was released in the UK a couple of weeks ago. We'll next see Swinton in the Coen Brothers' Hail, Caesar! this weekend, and Johnson in Fifty Shades Darker on February 10 next year.