George R.R. Martin is producing a new short film, Night of the Cooters, based on the short story of the same name by Howard Waldrop. The film is being directed by Vincent D'Onofrio (Daredevil), who is also starring in the project. The sci-fi short, written by Joe Lansdale, will combine live-action and animation with the help of Trioscope Studios.
Night of the Cooters is from a short story collection by Waldrop with the same title. Inspired by H.G. Well's War of the Worlds, it tells the story of an alien invasion from the perspective of a sheriff in Pachuco, Texas. Like Martin himself, Waldrop is a prolific sci-fiction and fantasy writer with a number of novels, novellas, and short story collections to his name. The author is set to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention in Montreal this November.
On his blog, Martin outlined the new project. He said Night of the Cooters had wrapped filming and the final version would be around 20 to 30 minutes long. There is no word yet on when or where the short film will be released, but Martin mused that he might try to get the film to festivals next year. Regarding the release he wrote, "Some stories just need to be told. Some movies just need to be made. Call it a labor of love." Martin also expressed his excitement about the new project and working with D'Onofrio and Trioscope Studios.
Trioscope Studios is known for fusing live-action and animation to create films that are a unique graphic novel experience. The studio was behind Netflix's World War II miniseries, The Liberator, which told the true story of U.S. Army Officer Felix Sparks. CEO and co-founder of Trioscope, L.C. Crowley gave Screen Rant an exclusive quote about the studio's work on Night of the Cooters.
Our first series, The Liberator, is a World War II scripted series drama, so venturing into this amazing sci-fi western with George and his team is a chance to show another side of what our studio and technology can do. No matter the genre, Trioscope’s passion -- to bring stylized worlds to life and provide world-class artists like Vincent D’Onofrio the opportunity for limitless storytelling at a blockbuster level -- is what it’s all about for us.
With creative minds like Martin and Waldrop involved and visuals from Trioscope, Night of the Cooters is sure to be an interesting project. Martin has been increasingly busy lately producing a number of projects including the Game of Thrones spin-offs House of the Dragon and Tales of Dunk and Egg as well as the adaptation of Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor and the WW II set Wild Cards, among many others.