Karyn Kusama hasn’t directed a film since 2018’s “Destroyer.” She came very close to helming one when, in 2020, she was tapped to helm a new version of Dracula for Blumhouse. Like “The Invisible Man,” her Dracula was going to be set in the modern day.
Here’s some good news for us folks who believe Kusama to be a worthy filmmaker, she’s mounted funding for next film, a thriller, no plot details just yet, titled “Stan.” Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Twisters”) has the lead role. An early 2026 shoot is planned.
Kusama’s has a history of strong female led films, having directed “Jennifer’s Body,” “Girlfight,” “The Invitation” and “Destroyer.” Speaking with Polygon, Kusama knew exactly why her “Dracula” got canned, and it had to do with its portrayal of men:
I would say that the Dracula movie I was making wasn’t a straightforward monster movie. And so perhaps that was its problem. It was very much rooted in the monsters that start at home in humans. That’s what was going to make it distinctive was that Dracula was more than a force of evil. He was a man, and that is, in some ways, both its reason for being and its obstacle. It was really hard to get the movie made. And even though we got so close, three weeks from shooting, people lost their nerve.
While it did not materialize, and Kusama hasn’t directed a film in over seven years, she’s been keeping busy with television projects. She serves as an executive producer on “Yellowjackets,” and directed the first two episodes of AMC’s anthology series “The Terror”. However, “Stan” will be her cinematic comeback.