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Hulu Orders Horror Anthology Series Based On ‘North American Lake Monsters’ Stories From Annapurna TV
Hulu has given an eight-episode series order to a horror anthology series based on North American Lake Monsters: Stories, a collection of short stories by Nathan Ballingrud, from Preacher writer-producer Mary Laws, Under the Shadow and Wounds filmmakers Babak Anvari and Lucan Toh, and Annapurna Television.
Created by, written and executive produced by Laws, The Untitled Mary Laws Project (working title) is a contemporary horror anthology in which, through encounters with Gothic beasts, including fallen angels and werewolves, broken people are driven to desperate acts in an attempt to repair their lives, ultimately showing there is a thin line between man and beast.
Toh and Anvari executive produce with Laws. Anvari also is set to direct. Annapurna Television produces for Hulu.
North American Lake Monsters: Stories,released in 2013 by Small Beer Press, was Ballingrud’s first published book. His second, novella The Visible Filth, was adapted by Anvari and Toh into their 2019 movie Woulds, which is distributed by Annapurna Pictures.
Anvari and Toh came to prominence with the 2016 internationally co-produced Persian-language horror film Under the Shadow, written and directed by Iranian-born Anvari in his directorial debut and produced by Toh. The movie premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. It was acquired by Netflix and also was selected as the British Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film.
Anvari and Toh’s followup horror film, Wounds, also written and directed by Anvari and produced by Toh, premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It stars Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson.
Anvari and Toh and their Two & Two Picturesrecently signed a first-look deal with AMC for television projects. Anvari also is developing projects with Black Bear and Film4.
Laws wrote on the first three seasons of AMC’s Preacher and co-wrote the screenplay for Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon.She’s also known for her plays Bird Fire Fly, Blueberry Toast (Yale School of Drama) and Wonderful , among others.
The Untitled Mary Laws Project joins Hulu’s existing horror series, J.J. Abrams and Stephen King’s Castle Rock and Jason Blum’s anthology Into the Dark.
Annapurna TV has HBO miniseries The Plot Against America, Netflix seriesMixtape and Amazon comedy pilot Half-Empty starring Cazzie David