Way back in 2002, when Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise could do no wrong and were cuddling and snuggling with Paramount, the two worked out a deal to buy the remake rights to the Chinese horror film, The Eye. Now that it’s the morning after, Lionsgate received the studio handoff and will be releasing the film upon its completion. Surprisingly, Paramount Vantage will be assisting in the financing.
With Cruise/Wagner still producing, there’s a few decent names jumping into this remake, including love her/hate her Parker Posey. Alessandro Nivola has signed on to star opposite Jessica "Whew. Man!" Alba. Nivola has had quite a few roles over the years, most notably as the party-boy soccer star in Goal! and, of course, Face/Off‘s Pollux Troy. Alba, well, there’s no need for explanation there.
The Eye, first released in Hong Kong in 2002, is a cautionary treatise on why you should just accept glasses and/or blindness. The protagonist, a woman on the receiving end of a cornea transplant to fix the blindness she’s suffered from since childhood, finds that the corneas she’s received are a total bust, seeing as how now she’s seeing all kinds of ghosts. Not content to dig her eyes out, she begins a quest to track down the original owner of her transplanted corneas to find out what in the name of all that’s visible is going on. Terror and tension ensue.
The Eye is being directed by Frenchman David Moreau (not the Genegineer responsible for Mutates) and Xavier Palud, so even if it turns out like crap, you know it’s going to look cool.