Filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu is reportedly writing and directing a fresh take on The Fly for 20th Century Studios. Sources familiar with the project told Deadline that this will not be a remake, but it will still be set “set in the universe of” the 1986 film by David Cronenberg. It’s connection to the fan-favorite is mysterious, but there are many ways for this project to go.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The Fly was originally written as a short story by George Langelaan in 1957, and was adapted into a film in 1958 before Cronenberg offered his take three decades later. Insiders said that Jusu’s movie is not a remake, though that doesn’t necessarily rule out a re-adaptation of the original work. The report also did not use the word “sequel,” so it’s hard to guess what is in store. We know that producers include Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping, but no other cast or crew have been announced.
The Fly is about an eccentric scientist who invents a form of teleportation by disintegrating matter in one place and reintegrating it in a different location. However, the temperamental machine does not always reassemble things correctly, and the scientist is too impatient to work out the kinks. He tries to teleport himself, but a housefly contaminates the experiment and their two bodies are spliced together.
Cronenberg’s version starred Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brundle, while Geena Davis played journalist Veronica Quaife. It is often referenced as the quintessential “body horror” movie, and was particularly lauded for its practical effects by Chris Walas. However, it was a relatively loose adaptation of Langelaan’s short story, especially compared to the 1958 version starring Vincent Price.
However Jusu plans to build on this story, it likely won’t be the next thing we see from her. The filmmaker’s schedule is stacked, with an untitled horror project in the works for Universal and Monkeypaw Productions and a sequel to Night of the Living Dead on order for MGM. Jusu is a rising star in Hollywood and in the horror genre in particular ever since the release of her 2019 short film Suicide by Sunlight. In 2022, she told Deadline that her project with Universal and Monkeypaw is an expansion of Suicide by Sunlight, and is “about day-walking Black vampires who are protected from the sun by their melanin.”
Jusu was also the writer and director of Nanny, the 2022 psychological horror about an undocumented woman from West Africa working as a nanny for a privileged child on the Upper West Side. It was released in theaters by Blumhouse and Amazon Studios, and is now streaming on Prime Video. So far, there’s no release date for any of Jusu’s upcoming projects, but excitement is definitely building online.
