Julia’s Eyes director to make English-language horror Venom

Catalan filmmaker Morales will direct and co-write Venom with Oriol Paulo, his co-writer on last year’s successful thriller Julia’s Eyes (pictured), which was co-produced by Guillermo Del Toro and took an impressive $10m through UPI at the Spanish box office.

Venom will be about a major pharmaceutical company based on a remote island that keeps dangerous snakes to test their venom in the hope of treating serious illnesses, when one day an accident occurs with disastrous consequences. 

“Venom is going to be a big English-language project with a large budget of $17m and will shoot in 2012,” Joaquin Padro, president of Rodar Y Rodar, told ScreenDaily. “We are looking to have an A-list cast for the project and are excited about the film’s potential.”
 
Oriol Paulo is also set to write and direct his own English-language thriller The Body, budgeted at $14m, about a police inspector investigating a missing dead body, whose chief point of help is the dead woman’s husband, but clues soon reveal he could be the suspect.

The Body will be a co-production between Rodar Y Rodar and Antena 3 Films, the film wing of broadcaster Antena 3, which is also co-producing several other high profile local projects, including Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s Intruders. Regional broadcaster TV3 is also backing The Body.

“This is another project we are excited about and are approaching top international actors for the lead roles of the same calibre as the likes of Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Julianne Moore,” adds Padro.
 
Oriol Paulo will also direct, and co-write with Xavi Guardia, a $5.5m Spanish-language thriller called La Senal (The Sign) about a woman who tries to prevent a past crime which resulted in personal tragedy through the use of a television that acts as a bridge between 1989 and 2010.
 
Rodar Y Rodar has also confirmed the lead cast and shooting dates for its hotly anticipated 3D horror-thrillerScars (also known as Paranormal Xperience 3D), directed by promising young filmmaker Sergi Vizcaino and backed by Sony Spain.

The lead cast will consist of Amaia Salamanca, Ursula Corbero, Alba Riba, Oscar Sinela, Luis Fernandez and Maxi Iglesias, all of whom are promising young actors making the transition from popular local television series to film.

The psychological thriller, co-produced by Raquel Carreras, is about a group of children, each with their own interesting circumstances, who are preyed upon by a mad doctor in an abandoned town. Shooting will take place from early May around the city of Barcelona and locations include old salt mine caves and a real haunted house.

Quality have already pre-bought the Latin American rights to Scars, and several of the distributors of Julia’s Eyes have shown interest in the project, which the producers will promote to buyers at Cannes.
 
Other Rodar Y Rodar projects in development includeCarmen Amaya and Ali Bey, both directed by Mar Targarona; Dani Torres’ En La Puta Calle,La TerceraJuventud, and The Perfect Assassin directed by Andrew Douglas.