Here’s a production grid that’s starting to make the rounds. Robert Pattinson has been attached to star in an “Altered States” remake since 2022, but this is the first I hear of a director being part of the project.
The talented Trey Edward Shults is now attached to direct “Altered States” with Pattinson playing the lead role. Warner Bros is producing the project. No further casting has been mentioned at this time.
“Altered States,” released in 1980, tackles a scientist who uses sensory deprivation and psychedelic drugs to explore the limits of human consciousness. His experiments lead to profound and terrifying transformations, blurring the line between reality and madness.
The film, which starred William Hurt, was directed by Ken Russell and written by the great Paddy Chayefsky (“Network”). It was initially met with very poor reviews, but has since been reappraised as a cult classic.
I’m not sure if Pattinson will have time to shoot Shults’ remake this year. He’s currently in production on A24’s “Primetime,” and is set to join Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” next month. He’s also going to be promoting two films this year (“Die, My Love,” “The Drama”) and that’s not even counting whether he actually shoots “The Batman 2” in the fall.
Meanwhile, Shults’ much-delayed “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” starring The Weeknd, Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan, is finally being released in early May via Lionsgate.
Any chance I get, I’ll tout Shults’ 2015 debut, “Krisha,” which in my books is a masterpiece. If you haven’t checked it out, it’s absolutely worth a look. I didn’t think his subsequent films, “It Came At Night” and “Waves,” were as accomplished as “Krisha,” but they were very well directed and further sold me on the idea that this guy is a major talent.