Steve Niles spoke with Comic Book Resources about his newest Hollywood deal, a big screen adaptation of “Wake The Dead,” originally optioned by Dimension Films, but now in the hands of Holding Pictures.

How did this movie deal come about? “Wake The Dead” was originally with Dimension.

Niles: Originally, it was bought as a package deal by Dimension with another book I had done called “Hide.” Basically, nothing happened. Bob Weinstein was a big fan of it, and he and I sort of did our best to get it going, and it fell victim to the split [between Disney and Miramax/Dimension]. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t up there with their priorities, like Quentin Tarantino and those guys, you know. So it just fell by the wayside, and they were really cool about it and we got our rights back.

All through this, I’d been talking to Jay Russell. I met Jay about three years ago, I think, and we immediately started talking about projects. This was one he really focused on. I’m really attracted to opposites teaming up–not that Jay and I are opposites, but certainly on the surface that’s what you’d think. I mean, here’s the director of “Water Horse: Legends of the Deep,” which is one of the hottest kids’ movies right now. And he did “My Dog Skip,” which obviously was a big success. I just loved the idea of him taking on this story as his first horror, because everybody’s got a littler horror in them, and I’m really curious to see. Watching his movies, you can see in the suspenseful moments of “Water Horse” he teeters on some good horror moments. I’m excited about the possibilities.

The complete interview is online, here.

Variety announced over the weekend
that Steve’s “Wake The Dead” story has been optioned by Holding Pictures for the big screen.

“The idea is to make a classic horror film, and what I liked was the combination of Jay, in a genre he’s wanted to experiment in for some time, with Jim, who is particularly skilled at this kind of voice, and with a world created by Steve, who has become a classic in the graphic novel world,” Lyons said.

Visual effects will be done by Peter Jackson’s New Zealand-based Weta, which provided the f/x work on “The Water Horse.”