From one screen to another, Netflix is working out a deal to the rights for We Used To Live Here, a psychological thriller originally shared on Reddit. The novella was written by user Polterkites—real name Marcus Kliewer—and posted in r/nosleep, a “place for redditors to share their scary personal experiences.” According to Deadline, Netflix has already selected Blake Lively to star in the film adaptation.
The story starts with a new homeowner receiving a knock at her front door. On the other side, a family of five says they used to live in the home and would like to show the kids around. Reluctant and nervous to let the strange family in without her partner at home, she lets them peruse the home anyways, kicking off a set of events that she never expected—a series of events made worse when a snowstorm sweeps through and strands the protagonist and her visitors in the house together.
The A Simple Favor actor will also produce with Kate Vorhoff, alongside Ground Control Entertainment’s Scott Glassgold and The Batman director Matt Reeves and his 6th & Idaho partner Adam Kassan. Lively’s been busy lately, recently signing onto Netflix’s Lady Killer, based on the Dark Horse Comic series, as well as another thriller The Husband’s Secret, based on the Liane Moriarty novel. She will both star in and produce these forthcoming adaptations.
The book rights for Kliewer’s We Used To Live Here will be auctioned off shortly. This is the second r/nosleep story Netflix has snagged in the last year, following Matt Query’s My Wife & I Bought a Ranch, which Query’s brother, Harrison, is adapting. If adapting scary Reddit stories into films gets us out of reboot and sequel purgatory, we’ll take it.
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Blake Lively turned into a floating torso so gradually, I barely noticed!
What would happen if we put you in water and gradually boiled it?
Torso w nice cleave.
I was definitely surprised at the quality of A Simple Favor- Paul Feig actually didn’t use his low-brow take on feminism that he seeded in Ghostbusters or The Heat, and Anna Kendrick has been through a spell of films that I don’t care at all about- though Blake Lively is not really the one that sold the film to me- I thought Paul Feig’s direction was fantastic, it was a really fun neo-noir-in-suburbia feeling.
Feig didn’t write A Simple Favor which is likely relevant.
Yeah- I loved how it was like a modernized version of the erotic thriller but like the good ones that actually made it to theaters.
“Modern erotic thriller”: not thrilling and Michael Douglas’ ass is nowhere in sight.
Lively gets all the attention but that movie was the absolute best use of Kendrick’s Super-Try-Hard theater kid/Pinterest mom energy.
I was impressed by how Feig’s direction managed to condense a spacious open floor home into a claustrophobic place between the kitchen island and the refrigerator.
There is blankness to Lively, like she isn’t ever bad at acting but I only remember her because the media pushes her and (I hate to say this) she is married to Ryan Reynolds. It’s kinda like Armie Hammer (before we learned all that horribleness) but I didn’t get why he kept getting cast. He wasn’t bad, he even was good in Call Me By Your Name but he was also the weakest part. Lively is really charming in interviews, she probably should have been a TV host or something.
I agree. I think the trend is a byproduct of studio execs that really don’t know what they’re doing, and having actors in weird stereotypes when they’re looking to cast- Heath Ledger was in that mold until he paired with the right director; or Colin Ferrell, or Matthew McConaghey, Amy Adams. Hopefully there’s a role in Blake Lively’s future that just blows everyone away.
Lively was pretty good in The Rhythm Section. Not great, but I bought her as someone who went over the edge after losing her family.
Wait, I just checked and according to Wickedpedia Armie Hammer has never been married to Ryan Reynolds.
I haven’t seen Hammer in all that many things but I found himself really impressive in both The Social Network and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Not that we were ever likely to get a sequel to the latter even before he turned out to be a psycho.
I did like The Man from UNCLE but The Social Network doesn’t seem that impressive to me! We will have to agree to disagree.
I don’t agree to that!
That Anna Kendricks…she’d be so pretty if she’d just get naked in things.
*Annas Kendrick
i had the neices of the person i bought my house from show up once wanting to see what we’d done with the place, so i showed them. they were very complimentary, but i think they might have had a couple
…knives on them? Ulterior motives? Are you okay???
…blunt objects since mullets4ever woke up hours later with the place ransacked and now suffers from memory loss.
Bravo! Y’ want Kate Hudson for that?
Read it and that’s 30 minutes I ain’t getting back. Rather generic “twists” but that sounds right up Netflix’s street to be honest.
Summary? They just ghosts? Not up for reading it and can’t find a short version in a cursory search.
They’re not ghosts. It’s weird, but I think the main twist is that the main character is actually delusional and was living with the family for a while, since the father of the family who came in her house was her brother. Either that or the father can bend reality. It’s really weird.
Basically there’s two potential readings of the story, based on if you believe Thomas in which case it’s psychological horror, or Eve in which case it’s supernatural horror.Personally, I believe Eve. It’s just a more complete story then, albeit one with mysteries, whereas if Thomas’ account is true then a good chunk of it is just nonsense, even beyond the supposed mental illnesses.
Adapting an internet comment into a movie sets a bad precedent. It’s only a matter of time now before we have Tilda Swinton playing Modusoperandi.
Can we get Michael Sheen to play Mortal Dictata?
a little bit confused about how this actually works. do you actually even need to buy the rights to something someone just posts on the web? I’m not saying “hollywood deserves to steal peoples stories” just surprised they’d go through the effort of buying them at all
Probably cheaper to purchase the rights than to pay defense attorneys in the inevitable copyright lawsuit and then also pay for the judgment when you’re found liable.
I’m guessing that paying a first-time screenwriter a small six-figure sum is probably more profitable than fending off a lawsuit.- Legal costs- Bad PR- No built-in Reddit audience, or word of mouth
The short answer is: yes, of course.
IDK Channel Zero wasn’t awful and that was essentially tv shows based on comment threads.
While the writing could sometimes be uneven, it was overall a pretty great show. Season 2, No End House, was my favorite and imo the best written of the seasons. Though each contains some fantastic wtfery.
James Franco as recognitions is casting gold.
JACK BLACK AS ZODIAC MOTHERFUCKER BECAUSE IT WOULD MAKE HIM SO ANGRY
Who, Zodiac or Jack?
I vote Laserface to be played by Kevin Smith.
Silent Laserface? Nah, can’t picture it.
MANIMAL will be played by a trash bag full of back issues of Batman comics.
Firsty McCancer AIDS: The Movie!
Maybe I’m crazy but I thought Blake Lively was really, really good in The Town. Like, unexpectedly so! That’s my thought and I’m sticking to it.
And my second cousin Leon was really good as a rock in the Saint Ignatius Living Nativity
There’s at least 3 creepypastas I’ve heard got their movie rights bought up but that was years ago and not one of them has been made. It’s a shame because creepypastas were doing more interesting things with horror than a lot of modern media.
It’s funny to me that nosleep is still described as “scary personal experiences”. It’s digital campfire stories.
For the record, Lady Killer is a great comic book.
And was Blake Lively in that? I rest my case.
Blake Lively in one of those stories where nothing at all would’ve happened if the main character had just been fucking sensible.
I just read *We Used to Live Here*. It’s very good. I’ll be interested to see what they do with it.
Coming this Christmas:
Blake Lively
IS
Bleak Deadly
Coming this Christmas.
Has Blake Lively ever been in anything good? I still can’t tell if she’s a terrible actress who happens to be beautiful.