The reboot of the 1996 cult classic The Craft has found its first witch in Cailee Spaeny. Andrew Fleming’s supernatural horror film The Craft reached cult classic status and has been praised by critics for years now, in big part because it stayed away from the clichés of teen films and explored darker themes such as witchcraft, racism, self-harm, and more.
The Craft follows Sarah (played by Robin Tunney), the new girl in town who befriends a group of outcasts who practice witchcraft and need one more participant to form a coven. Also starring were Fairuza Balk as Nancy, Neve Campbell as Bonnie, and Rachel True as Rochelle, the other members of the coven. A reboot was formally announced a few months back, and with Zoe Lister-Jones already onboard as writer and director, the crew is ready to welcome their first witch.
According to THR, Cailee Spaeny is in negotiations to star in The Craft. The basic premise is the same as the original: a high school outcast, named Hannah, forms a friendship with three girls and begins experimenting with witchcraft. Their practices bring them lots of benefits at first, but everything has a cost, and not everyone is willing to pay it. Spaeny would play Hannah, the equivalent of Tunney’s Sarah.
Cailee Spaeny has had roles in Pacific Rim: Uprising (where she played Amara Namani), Bad Times at the El Royale (playing Rose Summerspring), On The Basis of Sex (as Jane Ginsburg), and Vice, where she played a young Lynne Cheney. She’s currently part of the cast of FX’s miniseries Devs. She’s not exactly a newcomer, but if she joins the cast of this film, it'll be a major boost to her career.
The Craft is being produced by Blumhouse and Jason Blum himself, with Andrew Fleming coming back as part of the production crew, this time as executive producer. THR also shares that they’re planning to start filming in July, so we should have a final confirmation on Spaeny’s casting soon, as well as the rest of the cast. Many will argue that a reboot or remake of The Craft is unnecessary, but if we can have a new take on this story that touches on some of the social issues we're currently dealing with, and this time with a female writer and director, the idea doesn’t sound bad at all. Now we just wait to meet the rest of the new witches in this coven.
Source: THR