Samuel L. Jackson is set to join his “1408” co-star John Cusack in another Stephen King adaptation — Tod “Kip” Williams will direct for Benaroya Pictures and the Genre Company.
Benaroya Pictures is financing the film, which is set to start production in January.
In “Cell,” Jackson will play Tom McCourt, an engineer and former soldier who escapes from Boston along with Cusack’s character, Clay Riddell, after a mysterious cell phone-transmitted pulse spreads like a virus through the human population.
King himself co-wrote the script with Adam Alleca.
Richard Saperstein, Michael Benaroya, Brian Witten and Shara Kay will produce the film, while Edward Mokhtarian, Armen Aghaeian, Xavier Gens, and Laurence Freed will executive produce. Mark Leyner and Ben Insler will co-produce.
“It’s really exciting to have such a great cast continue to come together on this project,” said Benaroya. “Our goal is to create exciting commercial fare with top talent to really deliver on the concept of an ‘elevated genre’ film.”
Paradigm is representing U.S. rights to “Cell,” which International Film Trust will be presenting to buyers at the upcoming American Film Market.
Jackson most recently co-starred in Quentin Tarantino‘s “Django Unchained” and next appears in Spike Lee‘s “Oldboy” and Sony’s “Robocop” reboot, as well as “Captain America 2: Winter Soldier” and “The Avengers” sequel. He is currently in production on Matthew Vaughn’s “Secret Service.”
Jackson is represented by ICM, Anonymous Content, and attorney Jeffrey Bernstein.
