Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson are set to star in Blumhouse’s film adaptation of Scott Cawthon’s popular survival horror video game, Five Nights at Freddy’s.
Five Nights at Freddy’s takes place at a Chuck E. Cheese-esque pizzeria known as “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza”. The player assumes the role of a security guard who must survive each shift from midnight to 5 AM as the animatronic characters (Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy) go on an active killing spree outside business hours. With only a limited energy supply to last the night, the player must make efficient use of the establishment’s lights, mechanical doors, and security cameras to avoid capture.
Prior to Five Nights at Freddy’s, Scott Cawthon created Chipper & Sons Lumber Co., a construction and management game about a beaver and his son build various structures out of wood. The game was criticized for its unintentionally uncanny character designs, which Cawthon used as inspiration to come up with the animatronics of Five Nights at Freddy’s. While animatronics already exude a creepy impression when they move, the realization that they were dead all along further enhances the uncanniness. Cawthon additionally voiced the Phone Guy and the Phone Dude, the instructors from the first and second games respectively.
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The rapid success of Five Nights at Freddy’s expanded into a franchise, innovating on the gameplay and expanding the lore of the eldritch animatronics. Numerous sequels and spinoffs gradually reveal major mysteries behind the animatronics as well as the tragedy known as “the Bite of ‘87”. The extensive details embedded in the world of Fazbear became subject to many fan theories as more installments were released.
Are You Ready To Film, Freddy?
In 2015, Warner Bros. acquired the film rights to adapt Five Nights at Freddy’s, with Roy Lee, David Katzenberg, and Seth Grahame-Smith set to produce. Gil Kenan and Tyler Burton Smith signed on to direct and co-write respectively that same year. However, Warner Bros. canceled the project and Kenan left production in 2017. When Blumhouse Productions picked up the project, Chris Columbus became the director and writer as well as co-producer with Jason Blum and Cawthon.
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The film was planned for a 2020 release, but rewrites of the script delayed further production. In 2021, Columbus left, leaving the film with script issues and no director. In 2022, The team collaborated with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop for constructing the animatronics. Additionally, Emma Tammi joined the project as director and co-write the script with Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback. Cawthon and Blum are the producers, with Russell Binder as executive producer. Filming will take place in February 2023 in New Orleans.
Lillard and Hutcherson Have Been Cast
Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson have joined the cast of Blumhouse’s film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s. Hutcherson, known for his roles in The Hunger Games, Little Mouth, and The Beekeeper, will play Mike Schmidt, the protagonist of the first Five Nights at Freddy’s. Character details described Mike as a guilt-ridden man struggling to care for his younger sister; he takes the night shift as a Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza security guard, though his quest for the truth could present danger…
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Meanwhile, Lillard will play William Afton, the main villain of the series. Lillard is known for his roles in Scream, She’s All That, and Summer Catch, along with being the current voice for Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo franchise. His character in Five Night’s at Freddy’s, Afton, set forth a series of events that led to numerous tragedies resulting in the deaths of children along with his own death and eternal imprisonment in a faulty animatronic suit. Despite his physical demise, however, he always comes back…
What do you think of the casting choices for Five Nights at Freddy’s? Are you ready for Freddy’s first film? Let us know your comments and thoughts!
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Source: Deadline
