Rachel Weisz and Matthew Macfaden are the stars in Seance On A Wet Afternoon, director Tomas Alfredson’s remake of the classic British thriller. One of the 1960s’ best crime thrillers is getting a remake. Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson is set to direct Seance On A Wet Sunday Afternoon, a new take on the 1964 film ... Seance On A Wet Afternoon | Rachel Weisz, Matthew Macfaden to star in 1960s thriller remake
Rachel Weisz and Matthew Macfaden are the stars in Seance On A Wet Afternoon, director Tomas Alfredson’s remake of the classic British thriller.
One of the 1960s’ best crime thrillers is getting a remake. Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson is set to direct Seance On A Wet Sunday Afternoon, a new take on the 1964 film that featured superb performances from Kim Stanley (who was nominated for an Oscar) and Richard Attenborough.
This time around, Rachel Weisz and Matthew Macfaden will take on the lead roles. Weisz will play Myra, a medium who claims to be able to contact the spirit world with the help of her deceased son. Macfaden will play Billy, the meek husband who agrees to Myra’s plan to kidnap a child in order to stage a supernatural rescue attempt.
The script will be written by Jack Thorne, who went viral last year with Adolescence and seems to be so busy that we sometimes wonder whether there are several Jack Thornes, Multiplicity style. He’s also recently worked on, among other things, a TV adaptation of William Golding’s Lord Of The Flies, due to air on the BBC on the 8th February.
Alfredson, meanwhile, is no stranger to making atmospheric genre films like this. He broke through with his superb horror drama Let The Right One In (later remade as Let Me In by Matt Reeves); he won a BAFTA for his 2011 spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, starring Gary Oldman and other great British actors. Then he made The Snowman in 2017, an adaptation of the Jo Nesbo mystery novel, and by golly did something go awry there.
Aside from a Swedish comedy reboot released in 2020, Alfredson’s been rather quiet in the years since, so it’s pleasing to see a talented filmmaker back behind the camera – especially on a project that sounds suited to his talents. The original Seance is a tense, dankly atmospheric piece of Brit-noir, so it’ll be fascinating to see whether Thorne and Alfredson update the story to the present day, or keep its post-WWII setting.
Filming is currently underway in the UK according to The Hollywood Reporter, so Seance On A Wet Afternoon should be with us over the next year or so.
