Octavia Spencer in Talks to Join Robert Zemeckis' 'The Witches' Remake

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Octavia Spencer is in talks to join Anne Hathaway in the cast of “The Witches,” Robert Zemeckis’s adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel that is being developed at Warner Bros., an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Further, “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris is also on board to co-write the screenplay based on Dahl’s novel along with Zemeckis, and child actors Jahzir Bruno and Codie-Lei Eastick are also in negotiations to join the cast, according to an individual.

Spencer will play the grandmother of one of the boys who has a run-in with the band of witches led by Hathaway. Bruno will play Spencer’s grandson, and Eastick is portraying another boy.

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“The Witches” is the story of a boy who stumbles across a coven of child-hating witches who secretly inhabit the world. The boy is then forced to stop them after they transform him into a mouse. Hathaway is leading the cast as the Grand High Witch. It’s the same role as portrayed by Anjelica Huston in the original film adaptation from 1990 of Dahl’s book, which was first published in 1983.

Zemeckis is producing with Jack Rapke via their ImageMovers banner, as well as with Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro.

Spencer will next be seen in an untitled holiday comedy opposite Jessica Chastain and in a Netflix mini-series called “On Her Ground” that she’s producing along with LeBron James. She’s an executive producer of the Best Picture-nominated “Green Book.” Spencer is repped by WME and Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein.

Variety was first to report.

Every Black Director Nominated for an Oscar, From John Singleton to Spike Lee (Photos)

Spike Lee became only the sixth black director to receive an Oscar nomination in the Academy's history for his work on "BlackKklansman." But so far, no black filmmaker has won in that category.
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John Singleton, "Boyz N the Hood" (1991) • Two years after Spike Lee was passed over for a nomination for "Do the Right Thing," John Singleton became the first African American to earn a Best Director nomination for his star-studded drama set in South Central L.A. That year, Jonathan Demme won the award for "The Silence of the Lambs."
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Lee Daniels, "Precious" (2009) • Eighteen years passed before a second African American filmmaker was recognized: Lee Daniels, for his gritty portrait of a young woman seeking to overcome a childhood of poverty and abuse. In another Oscar first, Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director to win the Oscar, for "The Hurt Locker."
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Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave" (2013) • British director Steve McQueen gritty drama about American slavery picked up nine nominations, including one for his directing. While the film won Best Picture (and McQueen earned a statuette as a producer), he lost the directing prize to "Gravity" filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón.
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Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight" (2016) • Jenkins' underdog indie pulled off a major upset, beating front-runner "La La Land" for Best Picture. But Damien Chazelle claimed the directing prize for the modern-day musical. (Jenkins did take home the statuette for Best Adapted Screenplay.)
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Jordan Peele, "Get Out" (2017) • Peele became the latest actor-turned-filmmaker to earn a Best Director nod, for his feature filmmaking debut. Peele won an Oscar for his original screenplay but Guillermo del Toro won Best Director for "The Shape of Water."
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Spike Lee, "BlackKklansman" (2018) • Despite wide acclaim for such films as 1989's "Do the Right Thing" and 1992's "Malcolm X," the pioneering filmmaker earned his first nomination decades into his career for this fact-based tale of a black undercover cop who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan.
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Spike Lee finally makes the cut for “BlackKklansman”

Spike Lee became only the sixth black director to receive an Oscar nomination in the Academy's history for his work on "BlackKklansman." But so far, no black filmmaker has won in that category.

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Every Black Director Nominated for an Oscar, From John Singleton to Spike Lee (Photos)

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