Sons of Anarchy Creator to Direct This Beast Movie for Netflix and Blumhouse

Kurt Sutter, creator of the Sons of Anarchy TV franchise, is now set to make his feature film directorial debut. After working on The Shield for a number of years, Sutter branched out on his own, creating and running Sons of Anarchy for FX and co-creating the current spinoff series, Mayans M.C. With Sutter and Walt Disney Television going their separate ways, the writer and producer is moving on to different projects, including his directorial debut with Netflix and Blumhouse.

It was announced on Monday that Sutter will be writing, directing, and producing a new movie called This Beast. The upcoming film is based on The Beast of Gévaudan, the true story of a mysterious beast that attacked a French village in the 1760s.

Jason Blum will produce This Beast for Blumhouse and Carla Hacken will produce for her production banner, Paper Pictures. Blumhouse Television’s Chris McCumber and Jeremy Gold will serve as executive producers.

“Bringing my disturbing, familial story sensibility into the Blumhouse world just seemed like something that had to happen,” Sutter said. “And This Beast is the perfect project for that marriage. And Netflix is the perfect venue for that bloody ceremony.”

In addition to his work on television, Sutter wrote the screenplay Southpaw, the Jake Gyllenhaal boxing drama directed by Antoine Fuqua. As an actor, Sutter appears in Chaos Walking alongside Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley, which is currently playing in theaters.

“We’ve long been fans of Kurt and his unparalleled storytelling — that’s both visceral and packs an emotional punch. We’re excited that Blumhouse is producing his first feature for Netflix,” said Jason Blum, CEO and founder of Blumhouse.

Here’s the official logline for This Beast:

“An 18th century English village is besieged by a mysterious and elusive beast. Dozens of innocents are slaughtered and the mayhem is driven to puritanical heights by religious fanaticism. The impossible task of killing the beast falls to a lowly trapper who promises he can stop the carnage. But for him this hunt is not a professional mission, it’s a deeply personal one.”

Are you excited about This Beast? How do you think Sutter will fare in his directorial debut? Let us know in the comments!