‘I don’t know why she agreed the statement changed last minute,’ he said.
huge James Bond competitor Theo James appears in the blood-soaked teaser trailer for a huge horror picture coming out next year.
The hero of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentleman, which has been received a second season on Netflix, will play the lead in a new Stephen King film adaptation.
The Monkey is a horrifying short story written by King and directed by Osgood Perkins, who followed up on his great success with the low-budget horror smash hit Longlegs, starring Nicolas Cage.
Not only have the best-selling author’s books inspired outstanding films in recent years, like Carrie, It, The Shining, and non-horrors like The Shawshank Redemption, but filmmaker of the moment Perkins is also collaborating with producer James Wan.
Wan is, of course, the co-creator of the Saw and Insidious films, as well as The Conjuring universe, so this is a horror dream-team collaboration with plenty of scares.
James, 39, plays twin brothers Bill and Hal in the film, who discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, sparking a series of horrible fatalities.
The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years.
‘I don’t know why she agreed the statement changed last minute,’ he said.
The teaser film, which was published this week, begins with peppy carnival-themed music that gradually slows and warps as the monkey toy is revealed in shadow, before sinister drumming begins.
Furry paws confirm that the drum belongs to the monkey, which has blood smeared on top as the sticks speed up and a groan is heard.
Cutting to Sanditon actor James, who is shown as one of the twins, he is covered in blood and silently removes his spectacles, revealing the pristine skin beneath that was protected from what appears to be a spraying onslaught.
The music stops, and all we hear is his terrified breathing as we see blood all over the draperies behind him and on his clothes.
Fans were gushing over the team-up that The Monkey offers. Especially following the cult success of Longlegs.
‘So seated my ass will become one with the leather,’ quipped X user Vesa, while @Spencertweets_2 added: ‘Yes, Theo James my man.’
The Monkey’s promising pedigree has already been dubbed ‘crazy’ and ‘insane’ as fans shared how ‘hyped’ they were.
‘It’s gonna be crazy and awesome! Pure horror film magic from Perkins,’ enthused Petro Kruczynski on YouTube under the trailer, while @benbergin538 posted: ‘Can’t wait. Deffo checking this one out. Love Stephen King’s work.’
‘In Neon and Osgood Perkins, we trust,’ joked @benjilanc, referencing the US production and distribution studio behind The Monkey, which was also behind Longlegs.
‘James Wan & Osgood Perkins TEAMED UP? We were awed by Longlegs and already this!’ commented @beardedbloke2521.
‘I don’t know why she agreed the statement changed last minute,’ he said.
The Monkey marks a departure for James, who rocketed to prominence with the Divergent film franchise but has also acted in Downton Abbey, two Underworld films, and a 2022 TV adaptation of The Time Traveller’s Wife starring rocketed Leslie.
He also played the philandering Cameron Sullivan in the second season of The White Lotus.
The actor has also been firmly established in the Bond conversation for months, with Daniel Craig surrendering his licence to kill in 2021’s No Time To Die.
Along with front-runner Aaron Taylor-Johnson, James has appeared on numerous lists alongside Henry Cavill, Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey, and James Norton.
In July he was given odds of 6/1 with betideas.com and 7/1 with Coral that he’d be the next Bond.
However, filmmaker Perkins has kept him busy with something entirely different in the meantime thanks to The Monkey.
Despite the scariness, Perkins has also described the movie as far more comedic than anything he’s done before.
‘It’s feeling more like an old John Landis movie or a Joe Dante movie or a Robert Zemeckis movie,’ Perkins told The Hollywood Reporter while promoting Longlegs earlier this summer.
‘I saw an opportunity to make a wry, absurdist comedy about death. It’s about the very basic fact that we all die – and how f***ing funny and weird and impossible and surreal is that s**t? And to come at it from a tragicomedy kind of voice felt like it fit.’
He also claimed that as The Monkey fitted into ‘the haunted toy or evil toy subgenre’, he ‘couldn’t imagine doing a serious one of those’ as it rang ‘utterly false’.
The Monkey is set to release in cinemas on February 21, 2025.
