Blumhouse Productions is adapting Errol Morris’ acclaimed book A Wilderness of Error, about the infamous Jeffrey MacDonald case, for the big screen.
Blumhouse will team with Moneyball producer Rachael Horovitz for the project, which will be based on Morris’ 2012 book, A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald.
In the book, Morris, who along with directing films like The Thin Blue Line was also an investigative writer, examines the evidence in the case against MacDonald, who was convicted in 1979 of murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters. A Green Beret physician, MacDonald claimed that the murders were committed by drug-crazed hippies. He was sentenced to serve a life sentence for each of the three murders, to be served consecutively, and remains in federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland. He maintains his innocence, and Morris’ book takes a look at how some elements of MacDonald’s case may be entirely false.
Blumhouse is known for its massively successful microbudget horror fare (Paranormal Activity, The Purge), but the company was also a producer on Whiplash, the tense drumming thriller that walked away from the Academy Awards with three Oscars. This adaptation of A Wilderness of Error will be more of a prestige project in the same vein of Whiplash.
Jason Blum of Blumhouse and Horovitz are producing with former CEO of Universal Television and Channel Four Michael Jackson. The film reunites Blum and Horovitz, who also are collaborating on A Speck of the Sea for The Weinstein Co.
Blumhouse also produced HBO’s six-part true crime docuseries The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, which is now airing.
