James Bond writer to direct ‘genius’ horror film ‘set at a gay conversion camp’

Apr 12 2021
Written by Matilda Davies

John Logan has been nominated for Academy Awards for ‘Gladiator’, ‘The Aviator’ and ‘Hugo’. (JB Lacroix/Getty/Pixabay)

John Logan, the three-time Oscar nominated writer behind Skyfall and the Moulin Rouge! stage musical, will make his directorial debut with a new horror movie set in a conversion camp.

Whistler Camp is a “queer empowerment story”, according to Deadline, and is currently casting.

The film will be made by Blumhouse Productions, which produced horror blockbusters including Get Out, The Purge and Insidious. The studio has several other films currently in production including a Halloween sequel, a Purge sequel and The Black Phone.

The studio is yet to confirm when Whistler Camp is expected to start filming or be released.

Blumhouse founder Jason Blum made a brief comment on Twitter: “We’ve wanted to make a movie with John Logan and he came up with the *perfect* idea.”

Adam Robitel, the director of Insidious: The Last Key and Escape Room, joined the conversation on Twitter, writing: “This is the best thing I’ve ever heard.

“John Logan is next level genius. This is fantastic.”

While Logan isn’t known for his horror writing, his recent foray into the genre with TV series Penny Dreadful was met with critical acclaim.

Logan has had an impressive career as a writer on well-received films including James Bond chapters Skyfall and Spectre, Rango and Sweeney Todd. He has also written and adapted successful theatre productions such as Moulin Rouge! and Red, which won him a Tony Award in 2010.

Whistler Camp will mark Logan’s debut as a director of a feature film.

He is also reportedly working on the screenplay for a new Michael Jackson biopic with Graham King, who previously produced Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

Logan received attention back in 2012 after some scenes in Skyfall were described as “erotically charged” between Javier Bardem and Daniel Craig. At the time, he said: “Some people claim it’s because I’m, in fact, gay but it’s not true at all.

“There’s been so many ways to do a cat-and-mouse and intimidate Bond, and we thought, what would truly make the audience uncomfortable is sexual intimidation.

“So we just decided that we should play the card and enjoy it.”

Film fanatics are already begging for answers on casting and release dates online.