Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton have joined the cast of the proudly British thriller The Awakening.
Regular TV director Nick Murphy is behind the camera for this one, a tale of ghosts and mystery set in 1920s England.
A sceptical scientist (Hall, we assume) journeys to a countryside boarding school where rumours are rife about spectral activity. She initially thinks she’s debunked the idea (maybe she pulls a mask off the janitor and he announces he would’ve gotten away with it were it not for her meddling?) but then she has a frightening supernatural encounter that changes her mind.
“This is a riveting and very original script and we are thrilled that it is to be directed by Nick Murphy as his first feature,” David Thompson of backers Origin Pictures, told Screen Daily (via The Playlist Nation).
Murphy penned the script with Stephen Volk, who most recently created Fortean thriller series Afterlife, but is probably best known for writing the classic BBC hoax show Ghostwatch.
Provided the spirits don’t interfere, the film will kick off shooting in June.