Eli Roth has signed on to produce two horror projects for Cross Creek Pictures and Vertebra Films.
The first project is Clown, the story of “a loving father who dons a clown outfit and make-up to perform at his son’s sixth birthday, only to later discover the costume — red nose and wig included — will not come off, and his own personality changing in horrific fashion." To break the curse of the evil outfit, the father must make grim choices with his own family facing danger. He and his family race to break the curse of the evil outfit before he undergoes a complete transformation into a homicidal killer with over-sized shoes.
A fake trailer for the film made the rounds around the internet a couple of weeks ago, and included Eli Roth’s name in its faux credits. Boldly splashing industry names such as Lionsgate, Screen Gems and Roth himself, the HOSTEL-esque trailer gained Ford and Watts immediate notoriety and meetings with Roth, Prince and Oliver.
The trailer got Roth’s attention: “I was blown away when I saw that Clown trailer. Everyone thought it was real, or that I had at least made a fake trailer. I called the guys right away and their first response was ‘Thank you for not suing us!’ I said ‘Sue you? Let’s make this into a real film!’ They are incredibly talented, smart guys ready to make their feature debut.”
Jon Watts will direct from a script he will co-write with Christopher D. Ford. Watts has directed numerous commercials as well as music videos for artists including Fatboy Slim and TV On The Radio.
Production is aiming for the first quarter in 2011.