Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, the German filmmaking team behind Goodnight Mommy, are going Hollywood, setting up their first studio project.
Universal is in final negotiations to pick The Fortress, a horror pitch the team will write and direct. Michael De Luca, who has a first-look deal with the studio, is attached to produce.
Fortress details are being kept locked but the story centers on a group of refugees hidden aboard a container ship who discover their passage to safety is not what it seems.
De Luca Productions’ Lucy Kitada will executive produce.
Fiala, a filmmaker, and Franz, a former film journalist and casting director, first teamed up when they co-directed and co-wrote the feature documentary Kern. They made their fiction debut with 2014’s Mommy, which generated much acclaim and was Austria’s entry for best foreign language film.
Mommy told of twin boys whose mother returns home from surgery with a bandaged face. After a while, the boys begin to suspect that this person may not be their mother after all.
The duo signed with WME for representation in October 2015. They are also repped by Jackoway Tyerman.
