With directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo confirmed last November, attention has now turned to the potential casting of the developing Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel** Leatherface**. Where have they been looking? Walford, apparently. Currently in the frame for a starring role as the young Leatherface is Eastenders' Sam Strike.
Strike arrived on the London soap in 2013 as Johnny Carter, the son of Danny Dyer's Queen Vic landlord Mick. He left last November (although he was back for the Christmas episode and the door seems open to him for future returns). Now we know where he was heading...
The new Chainsaw film follows 2013's hapless Texas Chainsaw 3D as the eighth film in the scrappy franchise. It's the second to be called Leatherface, following Jeff Burr's third instalment in 1990 starring a young Viggo Mortensen. It's also the second attempt at a prequel, after Jonathan Liebesman's Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning in 2006.
Like Liebesman's film, the new Leatherface is thought to be following the hulking killer's early years in the 1970s, although in this case we'll find him in his teens before he dons the mask and picks up the saw. Some sources are naming him 'Jackson': a change from the previous prequel's 'Thomas Hewitt'.
Maury and Bustillo previously directed Inside, starring Béatrice Dalle, which is good enough to make Leatherface a more interesting prospect than it otherwise might have been. The up-and-coming Seth M. Sherwood wrote the screenplay, and pre-production is currently underway.