Netflix’s Next Stephen King Remake Just Got A Surprising Director

For Stephen King, one horror adaptation is rarely enough. It has been brought to the screen more than once, as has Firestarter, Pet Sematary, and Carrie. In fact, a third adaptation of Carrie is in the works, as is a second adaptation of The Running Man. The most recently announced King remake is an oldie, but a goodie: Cujo, the story of a family trying to defend itself from a rabid dog, was first adapted into a movie in 1983.

Now the story is being remade as a Netflix movie from Barbarian producer Roy Lee. When we first learned about it, there were no cast or crew attached, and the first big reveal is also a very surprising one.

The Hollywood Reporter claims The Whale and Requiem for a Dream director Darren Aronofsky is circling the Cujo remake, and will soon meet with screenwriter candidates. Aronofsky is mainly known for his surrealist imagery, which doesn’t exactly mesh with a straightforward creature feature horror like Cujo.

However, he’s not a complete newcomer to horror, or even animal horror. In 2010, Aronofsky directed Black Swan, a surreal drama set in a ballet company that had a distinct animal-based body horror twist in its final act. He also directed the Jennifer Lawrence allegorical movie Mother!, which had horror elements, albeit in the service of parable. He’s even dipped his toes into genre adaptations, developing a take on Batman: Year One back in 1999 that never made it to production.

With Aronofsky attached, the big question is how he’ll strike a balance between his surreal, psychological style and the outright terror of the original book and movie. Cujo is, essentially, King’s version of Jaws, a horror movie where the villain is a single animal following its instincts. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for stylized elements, but Aronofsky is known for his varied oeuvre — maybe he can do outright terror just as well as heightened cerebral drama.

Cujo (1983) is streaming on Pluto TV.