A24—the production company behind totally non-disturbing movies like The Lighthouse, Midsommar, The Green Knight, and Lamb—is getting into the (kind of) family-friendly space with the epic fantasy film, The Legend of Ochi.
Today, the company announced that their first foray into a film that won’t freak the bejesus out of you will also have an A-list cast, with the pictured-above-in-said-Lighthouse-movie Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home… probably), Emily Watson (Chernobyl), Helena Zengel (News of the World), and Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) on board.
According to Deadline, The Legend of Ochi will focus on a young girl (Zengel) who learns how to talk with mysterious animals called Ochi after she runs away from home. The story is an original one created by Isaiah Saxon, who is also on board to direct the film.
While this will be Saxon’s debut feature—his previous credits include directing music videos for Björk—sources told Deadline that the film is “a throwback to old school pre-Lord of Rings Peter Jackson pics” and emphasized how “blown away execs were by the world Saxon had created.”
The level of talent attached to the project—even twelve-year-old Zengel has an a Golden Globe nomination under her belt for co-staring with Tom Hanks in News of the World—confirms that A24 sees this as a big project. The production is still in its early days, however, so when we’ll actually see it in theaters remains unclear.
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