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Update On Alice Sweet Alice

concept_art_001Over two years since our last post on Alice Sweet Alice, and over three since any significant news, we have an update.

What exactly it means for Kathryn fans is not entirely clear but it does give us a small insight in to the world of film making.

To recap: Alice Sweet Alice was a horror movie from 1976 by the writer/director Alfred Sole.  More recently Alfred has been a production designer working on films and TV shows, including contributing to a number of seasons of Castle, which just finished its final run.  Back in 2013 Dante Tomaselli the horror writer/director, and cousin of Alfred, announced his plans to remake Alice Sweet Alice.  Kathryn was said to be involved playing the mother of the title character and would be taking a role behind the camera with her own production company.

As I said, a long time has passed with no news.

Dante has now given an interview with the iHorror website giving details on what has been happening in the intervening period.  Various attempts to secure funding fell through, including by Kathryn herself.  As Dante says:

“First, Alfred’s ex-agent was confident she had funding but, ultimately, she didn’t. Then Kathryn Morris was going to serve as Executive Producer, but she couldn’t raise the funds. She did try. That was it.”

Apparently Dante, with his co-writer Michael Gingold, has re-worked the project into a scarier film with a new script and production is being revived.  Kathryn’s further involvement is not mentioned, nor is it dismissed.  However, it is noticeable that as of earlier this month Kathryn is no longer listed on the film’s IMDb page.

You can read the full piece on the iHorror.com website HERE.

Alice Sweet Alice Remake On IMDb

concept_art_001Unbelievably it has been almost exactly 10 months since news first broke that Kathryn was lined up to star in a remake of classic horror movie Alice Sweet Alice (aka Communion and Holy Terror).

These things take time.  Until relatively recently most people outside the industry would not know what was going on until everything was finalised.  Nowadays we find out so much more information, so much more quickly.  Finally we are beginning to see some signs of progress.  Mere hints they may be, but they are not insignificant.

In the past few days IMDb, the great (flawed) oracle of all things film and television, has gained a page devoted to the remake.  Anyone can submit changes to pages, which need to go through an approval process, but I believe it takes more than that to create a new page like this.

Writer/director Dante Tomaselli is listed in both those roles, though he will actual share the writing credit with Michael Gingold, and as being responsible for the music.  Dante has created music for all his films and recently released a CD of horror film-like music called Scream In The Dark.  Prior to the release of another future frightening feature film called The Doll he plans to make a concept album of music for it.  Dante’s most recent project, Torture Chamber, was recently launched on DVD.

No cast or other crew members are listed on the IMDb page as of yet.  One other key piece of information that is there is Kathryn’s Revival House is attached as the production company.  Well, sort of.  It says “Revival House Productions” and links it to two other projects, neither of which had anything to do with Kathryn and pre-date the setting up of the company by some years.  Just another IMDb glitch which will no doubt be fixed at some point.

IMDb’s page for the Alice Sweet Alice remake is HERE.

KM UK will be keeping a close watch for developments.

Coincidently this past week saw the original 1976 Alice Sweet Alice re-released on DVD in the UK.  Alfred Sole (Dante’s cousin) directed and co-wrote the film.  Linda Miller was the mother, the role Kathryn is tipped to take in the remake, Paula Sheppard is Alice, and Brooke Shields (in her first role) is the victim.  Alfred is now the production designer on the TV show Castle.

Kathryn In Not So Sweet Alice

concept_art_001Website The Inquisitr.com reported yesterday (15th April 2013) that Kathryn has been cast in a lead role in a remake of the 1970s horror film Alice Sweet Alice.

Also, Kathryn’s production company Revival House will be co-producing along with the company that manages her career, Mosaic Media Group.

The original Alice Sweet Alice (aka Communion) was a 1976 film by director/writer Alfred Sole and writer Rosemary Ritvo.  The plot involved the murder of a young girl called Karen and the suspicion that her older sister Alice was responsible.  Further deaths occur and Alice is increasingly thought to be the killer.  It starred Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) in her first film role as Karen and Paula E Sheppard as Alice.  Linda Miller (The Mississippi) was Catherine Spages, the girls’ mother.

Kathryn is described as taking the role of the mother, Catherine.

New Jersey born Dante Tomaselli has been working on remaking Alice for some time with a teaser poster being released last October.  He wrote initial drafts of the script and brought in Michael Gingold of Fangoria Magazine to co-write the screenplay. Dante will be directing.  Dante has four feature films to his name, all in the horror genre.  What else could a man called Dante do but make horror films?

It looks like Alfred Sole (now a production designer on Castle) was responsible for getting Kathryn involved.  She agreed to executive produce and brought Mosaic Media Group to the table.  They are, apparently, targeting a cinematic release of the remake.

Dante gave an interview to the Aric Mitchell at the Inquistr website, which is where news of this development first broke.  You can read Aric’s piece in full HERE.  Aric has a lot of connections to the original film himself.

When asked about casting Dante said:

Kathryn Morris will star as Catherine Spages, Alice’s mother. Kathryn was the lead in the CBS series Cold Case and had a role as Tom Cruise’s wife in Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report. She’s like a chameleon — totally versatile. Slips right into a role. Her character in Alice is modelled after the original Catherine Spages, played by Linda Miller. In keeping with the spirit of the original, Kathryn’s character will look and feel similar, strikingly beautiful, perfectly sculpted dark hair, fiercely protective of her children and plagued by deep Catholic guilt.

The casting of the other roles has not yet taken place.

The trailer for the 1976 film, for some reason with the different name of Holy Terror, is included in the article.  It seems to be trying to suggest that Brooke Shields is Alice, and pretty much saying that Alice is the killer.  The first is not true and the second…

What we don’t know at this stage is the timing of the production.  Kathryn clearly has other things to deal with at the moment including babies and a possible TV show due for delivery in September of this year.  If Surgeon General goes ahead with a full season order then it could be next year before she has enough free time to make a film.  It is quite common for actors tied to series to use the short time in the summer between filming seasons to take on other projects like film roles.  These projects can take a while to get off the ground and such time scales are common.

Hopefully we’ll hear more on this soon and can look forward to another very different role for Kathryn, both in front of and behind the camera.  And, it is good to see that Kathryn’s production company Revival House is alive and well.

The trailer and some concept art images are now in the Gallery.

Thank you to Kathy for the heads-up.