Doctor Strange Director Scott Derrickson to Helm New "High-Action" Movie The Gorge

Scott Derrickson is known for directing Doctor Strange as well as many horror films, including The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and the upcoming The Black Phone, which was recently delayed until June. Derrickson may not be tackling Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but he does have some exciting projects in the works. This week, Deadline revealed that Derrickson will be helming Skydance's The Gorge. 

According to the report, Skydance acquired Zach Dean's spec script last year in a "competitive bidding war" and the company has been developing it internally. Derrickson's company, Crooked Highway, is producing The Gorge alongside Skydance's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger. Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill, and Sherryl Clark will produce through Crooked Company along with Dean and Adam Kolbrenner. Not much is known about the plot, but it's being described as a "high-action, genre-bending love story." 

Derrickson was originally set to helm the Doctor Strange sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but left the project during the development stage. Citing "creative differences," Derrickson and writer C. Robert Cargill exited the Marvel sequel and re-teamed for The Black Phone. 

"It was creative differences. [Derrickson] wanted to do one movie, and Marvel wanted to do another movie. So he sat there and said, 'Well sh-t, I've got this great script that I wrote with Cargill, and I'm really proud of,'" Cargill told CinemaBlend. "We were actually going to go out to other directors for The Black Phone, and Scott was like, he called me up and said, 'Dude, I have to make this movie. It's gotta be my movie, I have to do this. Do you mind waiting until after I'm done with [Doctor Strange 2]?'"

"He really wanted to bring me onto Strange as well. But in the event that it didn't happen, he was like, 'Do you mind waiting?'" continued Cargill. "And I was like, 'You know what, if you feel this passionately about it, no. I'll wait a couple years to make this movie.'" 

As for The Black Phone, Derrickson directed the horror film from his adapted screenplay co-written by Cargill. The Black Phone reunites Derrickson with his Sinister star Ethan Hawke in an adaptation of the 2004 short story by author Joe Hill (NOS4A2, Locke & Key). You can read a description of the film below: 

"The story concerns a kidnapped kid who finds himself in a soundproof basement surrounded by the remains of other victims. When night falls, the antique — and disconnected — telephone in the room begins to ring with the calls from the dead." In addition to Hawke, The Black Phone is set to star James Ransone (IT Chapter Two), Jeremy Davies (LOST), Kellan Rhude (Dexter: New Blood), Mason Thames (For All Mankind), and Madeleine McGraw (The Mitchells vs. the Machines)." 

The Black Phone is now scheduled to be released on June 24th. Stay tuned for more updates on The Gorge.