Zoe Lister-Jones will introduce the joys of playing “light as a feather, stiff as a board” to a new generation. The “Life in Pieces” star has signed on to write and direct a reboot of “The Craft,” The Hollywood Reporter confirms. Columbia Pictures and Blumhouse are financing the contemporary take on the 1996 supernatural thriller about teen witches.
The original “Craft” tells the story of a high school student (Robin Tunney) who gets recruited by fellow classmates and aspiring witches (Neve Campbell, Fairuza Balk, and Rachel True) to join their coven. It’s not long before the teens are in way over their heads, seduced by the power they’re able to harness — and using it for increasingly questionable purposes.
As the source notes, a reboot of “The Craft” has been in the pipeline at Sony since 2015 with Leigh Janiak tapped to write and direct.
Lister-Jones made her feature directorial debut with 2017’s “Band Aid,” for which she hired an all-female crew. She penned the script for the comedy about a couple who turn their fights into songs and co-starred. Her other screenplay credits include “Consumed,” “Lola Versus,” and “Breaking Upwards,” all of which she appeared in. Lister-Jones recently received a pilot order for “Woman Up” from ABC. She’s writing, co-starring, and directing the single-camera comedy following two former teen moms. After their daughters graduate high school, the pair decide it’s time to stop working their asses off and make up for the youth they never had. Lister-Jones co-created “Woman Up” with “New Girl” creator Liz Meriwether, and both will exec produce.
When we asked Lister-Jones her advice for other women filmmakers, she said, “As women, I think we have a tendency to second guess ourselves, so I would say first and foremost to stop doing that. Write or find a story that you feel needs to be told, and go tell it. Brave the naysayers. Embrace your instincts,” she urged.
