Rodar, Alan Robert, Team on ‘Crawl to Me’
BARCELONA – Underscoring the global nature of genre pic production, Life of Agony bassist Alan Robert is teaming with Spanish helmer Victor Garcia (“Mirrors 2”) and “The Orphanage” producer Rodar y Rodar, which is based out of Barcelona, for the bigscreen adaptation of “Crawl to Me,” Robert’s acclaimed IDW Publishing graphic novel.
Joaquin Padro and Mar Targarona at Rodar, one of Spain’s leading producers of upscale auteur genre films such as “The Orphanage,” “Julia’s Eyes” and “The Body,” will produce with Robert and his producing partners, Jeff Mazzola (“Descent”) and Chris White (“My Super Psycho Sweet 16”).
T.J. Cimfel and David White penned the screenplay. Described as a character-driven psychological horror film, “Crawl” turns on a young couple that moves into an isolated rural house with their baby. They discover in the basement a mysterious but maniacally evil that forces them to question their relationship, faith and existence.
Written and illustrated by Robert, pictorially drawn, rave-reviewed and packing a big final reveal, the 2011 comicbook miniseries of “Crawl to Me” was collected into a graphic novel which sold out within days of its publication by IDW in January 2012.
“Crawl to Me” went through three more editions: an oversized hardcover “Evil Edgar Edition,” and two more top-shelf versions published by the IDW Limited division.
Glenn Allen, the co-founder and vfx producer of Brainstorm Digital (“Boardwalk Empire”), will act as vfx supervisor. Producers aim to shoot studio work in Spain and exteriors in Canada, said Rodar’s Padro.
“It’s also a way of trying to help the Spanish industry, which is suffering from Spain’s crisis but has magnificent technicians,” he added, saying Rodar would like to form a longer-term relationship with Garcia.
“Being a part of the process in making this film a reality has been an amazing journey for me,” said Robert. “The dark subject matter is extremely delicate and had to be handled right. It is in excellent hands.”
For Garcia, “The story is visceral, visual, intense, it traps you.”
Debuting with 2007’s “Return to House on Haunted Hill,” which was produced for Dark Castle Entertainment, Garcia is near final mix on the IM Global-sold “Gallows Hill,” he said.
An English-language chiller shot near Bogota and co-starring “Twilight’s” Peter Facinelli, “Gallows Hill” is produced by Peter Bloch at A Bigger Boat, David Higgins at Launchpad and Andrea Chung, and exec produced by RCN Cine’s E-novva Films.
Robert is repped by David Saunders/APA, Cimfel and White by Manus Ent. and Garcia by Mike Goldberg/New Wave.
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