EXCLUSIVE: James Gray and Focus Features are reuniting on the director’s next feature film as Gray has come on to direct Ezekiel Moses for the studio from a script by Keith Bunin. Likely Story is producing the film. Bunin recently delivered a draft that blew the studio and Gray away with the director recently committing to it. Gray and Bunin will now team to develop the full the story as they get ready for the pre-production process.
The film is a depression-era ghost story about a young, imaginative boy living in a small town who befriends a mysterious drifter who may or may not have the supernatural ability to communicate with the dead.
The project has been something the studio has been developing for awhile with Philip Seymour Hoffman planning to direct prior to his tragic death in 2014.
Known for his critically acclaimed dramas like We Own The Night and Two Lovers, Gray recently directed Armageddon Time for Focus Features, which bowed at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. As for Bunin, the writer recently penned Disney’s live action hybrid of The Aristocats, with Questlove recently signing on to direct.
Gray is repped by CAA and Bunin is repped by CAA and Kaplan / Perrone.
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