James McAvoy Starring in ‘Speak No Evil’

James McAvoy to Star in Thriller Movie Remake ‘Speak No Evil’

‘The Woman in Black’s James Watkins is directing the movie for Blumhouse.

James McAvoy as Kevin Wendell Crumb in 2016's 'Split.'

James McAvoy was at the core of two big Blumhouse horror movies in recent years –– M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Split’ and its allied follow-up to ‘Unbreakable’, ‘Glass’.

But while Shyamalan has moved on to other subjects, McAvoy is reuniting with the company for a new film, a remake of 2022 Danish thriller ‘Speak No Evil’.

Speak No Evil

NR1 hr 37 minJan 21st, 2022

Watch Speak No Evil Online

What’s the story of ‘Speak No Evil’?

The basic synopsis for the original movie reads as follows… “A Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness.”

Suffice to say, it really doesn’t end well for one side of that story, but we won’t dig into it any further to avoid spoiling anything. Director Christian Tafdrup wrote the script with brother Mads, and the new movie will be based on their screenplay.

We would expect though, there to be some significant thematic changes for American audiences, as the original dips into some Eurocentric views on politics. But with commentary on fascism running through it, that’s something that a new movie could certainly also draw from that, given the state of American politics.

'M3GAN' producer and CEO of Blumhouse Productions Jason Blum.

Who is making the new movie?

James Watkins, the British director who has made movies such as cult thriller ‘Eden Lake’ and the wildly successful, Daniel Radcliffe-starring ‘The Woman in Black’, which became the most profitable British horror title in history, earning more than $129 million worldwide, is on for the remake.

Watkins, who has also made terror sequel ‘The Descent: Part 2’ and branched out beyond the horror genre for crime drama ‘Bastille Day’ and small screen entries such as ‘Black Mirror’ episode “Shut Up and Dance” and crime thriller series ‘McMafia’, has written the script and will make the new movie.

He most recently oversaw an update of a much older title –– a TV adaptation of 1965 spy thriller movie ‘The Ipcress File.’

As usual, Blumhouse boss Jason Blum will be among the producers alongside Christian Tafdrup, Paul Ritchie, Jacob Jarek, and Bea Sequeira, serving as executive producers.

McAvoy is no stranger to remakes –– he was seen in 2021’s ‘My Son’, which was drawn from 2017 French thriller ‘Mon Garcon’. And he was more recently back on TV screens as Lord Asriel in the third and final season of book adaptation ‘His Dark Materials. In addition to that, he appeared on stage in ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ and worked with Sharon Horgan in the BBC’s COVID lockdown-set ‘Together’, which was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA.

Blumhouse and Universal are clearly confident in this one, with a flag already planted on August 9th, 2024, as a release date.