It’s been a while since we heard that Guillermo del Toro was attached to remake the 1973 TV movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. Recently the project has begun to heat up with the announcement of Katie Holmes being cast, and now comes word that Guy Pearce is in final negotiations to star in the movie. Nine-year old Bailee Madison — who already has almost 20 IMDB listings — has also been cast.

The movie was about a man whose young daughter moves into his creepy house with him and his girlfriend. Eventually the young girl discovers that the house is also inhabited by demons who want to make the little girl one of their own — though her father refuses to believe this to be true.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, Pearce will of course play the father; Holmes will play his girlfriend, while Madison will naturally play his daughter. Guillermo del Toro wrote the script with Matthew Robbins and he is producing with Mark Johnson. One of del Toro’s understudies, Troy Nixey, will be directing the movie adaptation.

Though del Toro doesn’t need to really be involved with the day-to-days of this particular production, it will help that he is currently in New Zealand working on The Hobbit — Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is expected to enter production next month in Australia.

[Source: THR]