The Batman Director Developing 1940s Thriller Switchboard With Paranormal Activity Producer

The Batman is still some time from hitting theaters, but director Matt Reeves' future projects are starting to line up. Reeves, along with Paranormal Activity's Steven Schneider and Armaan Zorace of the newly-formed Dark Hell banner, is set to produce the period horror thriller film Switchboard from actor-turned-screenwriter Devon Graye, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

According to the report, Switchboard is set in the late 1940s and will center on a female switchboard operator who finds herself not only communicating with, but possibly targeted by an active serial killer. Per the description, "as their conversation intensifies, she begins to question her safety, her sanity, and, ultimately, her very reality."

For Reeves, this is a bit of a return to his horror roots in a sense with films like Cloverfield and Let Me In on his credit as a director. For Switchboard, Reeves will produce with Rafi Crohn via their 6th and Idaho banner. Also producing are Picture Films' Margo Hand and Joshua Thurston along with Schneider. Schneider was previously behind the Paranormal franchise and the recent Pet Sematary remake and also worked as an executive producer on Split and Glass, both from M. Night Shyamalan. Zorace's Dark Hell will co-finance development and produce as well. Dark Hell is set to focus on projects in the horror, thriller, and other genres.

As an actor, Graye may be best known for playing teenage Dexter in the Showtime series of the same name and has also appeared on The CW's The Flash as the second Trickster, Axel Walker. As a writer, his thriller I See You starring Helen Hunt premiered at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival and saw theatrical release last December and was met with mostly positive reviews. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gray has sold several more pitches for other projects.

As for Reeves' The Batman, it seems that things are starting to wrap up on that project. Some of the film's actors -- specifically those who play a band of thugs in Gotham City -- recently announced that they had wrapped filming on the project, though there is certainly more work to be done before the film makes it to theaters. The eagerly anticipated film, which stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton, a version of The Riddler, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, and Collin Farrell as Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot, is currently scheduled to open in theaters on March 4, 2022.

What do you think about Reeves' new horror project? Let us know in the comments!

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