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Catherine Hardwicke Considers Taking The Helm Of Wish Upon

As each year passes, The Black List continues to enhance its reputation as being the breeding ground for film projects of the highest calibre. The brainchild of Franklin Leonard consists of the most highly rated, unproduced screenplays in the film industry, and has previously generated such awards-baiting fare as Slumdog Millionaire, Argo, The King’s Speech, Spotlight and The Revenant. With this year’s notable selection having just been announced, it seems that Wish Upon, by Barbara Marshall, may have already found its director, in the form of Catherine Hardwicke.

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As each year passes, The Black List continues to enhance its reputation as being the breeding ground for film projects of the highest calibre. The brainchild of Franklin Leonard consists of the most highly rated, un-produced screenplays in the film industry, and has previously generated such awards-baiting fare as Slumdog Millionaire, Argo, The King’s Speech, Spotlight and The Revenant. With this year’s notable selection having just been announced, it seems that Wish Upon, by Barbara Marshall, may have already found its director, in the form of Catherine Hardwicke.

The horror-thriller is a female-led project in many ways – with Cloverfield producer Sherryl Clark on board, along with – potentially – Catherine Hardwicke,
this script from a female writer also has a teenage girl as the lead. The girl is suddenly the recipient of seven wishes – at which point things begin to go terribly wrong.

Check out the summary below:

“When Claire, a sixteen year old misfit, finds a magic box that promises a chance at the life she has always wanted, she never could have guessed that each wish would demand a deadly payment.”

This synopsis places Wish Upon squarely in the wheelhouse of Catherine Hardwicke, who made her feature film debut in 2003 with the teen-girl-led Thirteen – garnering an Oscar nomination for Holly Hunter. She then expanded her resume with the fantasy and fairy tale films Twilight and Red Riding Hood. While Red Riding Hood may not have set the box office ablaze, Twilight is the film that launched a multi-billion dollar film franchise, as well as many careers.

Wish Upon is a film that seems to incorporate many themes and elements that Hardwicke has proven herself, time and again, to be adept at handling – and to have this accomplished director take the helm of another film that is written by, produced by, and performed by women, is very exciting indeed.