Coming off the success of ‘The Woman in Black,’ Hammer Films have announced that their follow up film will again be in the horror/thriller genre and that they have found their leading man. In a press release from the company, it has announced that Hammer Films has signed on Jared Harris to play the lead role in the film ‘The Quiet Ones.’

Harris is a familiar face to television audiences as he played David Jones in several episodes of ‘Fringe’ and is currently appearing as Lane Pryce in AMC’s ‘Mad Men.’ He was last seen on the big screen as Professor Moriarty in ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ and will next be seen in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln,’ which will be released sometime in December of this year.

Inspired by true events, ‘The Quiet Ones’ centers around Joseph Coupland, an unorthodox and charismatic professor who uses controversial methods and leads his best students off the grid to take part in a dangerous experiment: to create a poltergeist from negative human energy.

John Pogue (‘Quarantine 2: Terminal’) has signed on to direct the film. Regarding Harris hire he says:

“Jared Harris is an extraordinarily talented actor and I’m thrilled that he will be playing the key role of Professor Joseph Coupland, who led his most ambitious students in a notorious 1974 experiment to create a poltergeist. Jared has the perfect blend of charisma, intelligence and wit that the part of Professor Coupland demands, and I’m excited to watch him bring the role to life.”

‘The Quiet Ones’ sounds like it could easily be a found footage film as it is based on a true story. The original script was written by Tom Deville with revisions by Craig Rosenberg (‘Lost’, ‘The Uninvited’), Oren Moverman (‘Rampart’) and Pogue. Production is scheduled to begin sometime in June in the UK.

Harris is a great actor and seems like an excellent choice for this role. His work as Professor Moriarty was top notch and under-utilized so it will be a nice change to see him in something a little meatier on the big screen.

So what do you think of Harris in the lead for ‘The Quiet Ones’?