Director Scott Derrickson is in high demand these days. He recently directed his highly-anticipated return to horror, The Black Phone, and he has three other known directorial projects waiting in the wings. Now, Skydance has tapped him to helm their latest film The Gorge, based on a spec script from Zach Dean, the writer behind another Skydance film, The Tomorrow War. Skydance is remaining mum on the details for their latest film for now, but they refer to it as a high-action, genre-bending love story.
The Gorge has been an internal project for Skydance for a while now, after they won a rather intense bidding war for the script in the fall of 2020. With Derrickson now at the helm, the company looks to finally bring the story to light and start openly developing. Derrickson comes with his production company Crooked Highway in tow, meaning his creative partners C. Robert Cargill and Sherryl Clark will be along for the ride as fellow producers. Joining Derrickson and the Crooked Highway gang in production are Dean and Adam Kohlbrenner, along with Skydance's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger.
The working relationship between Derrickson and Skydance is already tight with the director. The two have also partnered up for the Chris Evans-led action-adventure flick Bermuda, which has its own long development history. Centering on the spooky graveyard of the sea that spells doom for foolhardy sailors and pilots alike, the film sees Derrickson teaming up with Cargill once more to rewrite the script and finally get the project off the ground. Since the announcement Derrickson would be directing though, everything has gone quiet on the project.
Derrickson will have his hands full for some time now. The Black Phone makes its long-awaited theatrical debut on June 24, but he also has his hands full on the upcoming blockbuster Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as an executive producer. He's also slated direct a few previously announced films, including When Gravity Fails and Two Eyes Staring. It's quite a change for him considering the gap between Doctor Strange and his most recent projects. Before introducing magic into the MCU, Derrickson made waves with audiences, directing cerebral horror films like Sinister, Deliver Us From Evil, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
We'll have more on The Gorge as Skydance develops the project.