“Hellraiser” star and horror icon Doug Bradley is in talks to join the cast of “Pickman’s Model,” an upcoming film adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft short story of the same name. This adaptation of the 1926 tale will be directed by filmmaker and sculptor Bryan Moore. “Pickman’s Model” will be the second installment in Moore’s planned Lovecraft trilogy.
Moore’s 1999 horror short “Cool Air” was the first film in the planned trilogy. It is an adaptation of another 1926 short story of the same name. This classic tale revolves around a doctor who dangerously straddles the line between life and death.
“Pickman’s Model” tells the tale of an artist from Boston who begins to paint increasingly graphic depictions of terrifying monstrous beings. These grotesque paintings lead to him being ostracized by the local art community. This story is also referenced in John Carpenter‘s “In the Mouth of Madness.”
While Bradley is best known for playing Pinhead in the “Hellraiser” horror franchise, that isn’t what inspired Moore to approach him. “What sold me on the idea of approaching Doug wasn’t so much his great performances in the Hellraiser films, but his amazing readings on his YouTube Channel of horror staples in the literary canon, such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven,” Moore said. “Doug had a quality in delivering that material in such a way that I hadn’t seen before; an intelligent presentation that raised the bar in just how high the quality can be in the groundwork of literary horror, which, of course, is where all of this started.”
And clearly, Bradley is very comfortable around horrific, otherworldly monsters. Former Fangoria editor Tony Timpone helped put Moore in contact with Bradley. He described the project as “a match made in Heaven…or perhaps somewhere warmer.”
The film just launched a crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter to get “Pickman’s Model” made. They have a goal of $125,000.
