the lottery

Shirley Jackson’s iconic tale of ‘The Lottery’ which was initially published in 1948 and has been read in high school English classes for decades has never been turned into a full-length feature film, until now.

Frank Marshall will be directly involved in creating the film along with Christine Holder, Andrew Wilson and, Mark Holder. At this time there is no director attached to the film, but Jake Wade Wall (‘The Hitcher’) is writing the script.

While this is the first iteration of the movie that is making its way to the big screen, ‘The Lottery’ has been told in other mediums. In 1951 a radio version was aired with a television take released in the 50s. There was a 1969 short film of the tale with a 1996 television film on NBC that was a spiritual sequel to the story.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story, the entire point of the film revolves around the twist ending. With how well known Jackson’s story is, it will be hard to see this come out with a surprising reveal which audiences won’t at least partially be expecting.

However, it appears that they’ll be modernizing it according to Marshall:

“I liked what Jake was doing in developing it and bringing up to the present day. It’s has a dystopian, Handmaid’s Tale feel about it, which makes it very timely…and, it has a great twist at the end.”

Jackson’s has a vast and successful body of work though very little of it has ever been adapted to the big screen. If successful, this is one work that could shine, but it remains to be seen how they can deliver a twist that most of those watching the movie won’t see coming. Of course for another take at her work, we did hear that Netflix was bringing ‘The Haunting of Hill House‘ to the small screen.

Are you looking forward to a modern take on ‘The Lottery’? How do you feel they can change the film to make the twist ending fresh for viewers? Share your thoughts below!

Source: Deadline