The Faculty (2018)

The Faculty is a 2018 American sci-fi teen body horror film written and directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein and serves as a modern reimagining of Robert Rodriguez's 1998 cult horror thriller, The Faculty.

The film was produced by Jason Blum, Bill Block and Kevin Williamson who wrote the original film.

The film stars Chandler Riggs, Andi Matichak, Bella Thorne, Katie Aselton, Josh Brolin, Jessica Chastain, John Krasinski, Graham Phillips, Abigail Breslin, Joel Courtney, Sally Field, Kathleen Turner, Gina Rodriguez, Bill Hader, James Ransone, Molly Ringwald, Sydney Park and Shameik Moore. The film features a special appearance of cast members of the original film.

The film deals with a group of teenagers suspecting their teachers at their school are aliens after bizzare occurances involving an extra terrestial.

The film was distributed by Miramax, Blumhouse Productions and Netflix and was released on July 21st, 2018. The film was favorably embraced by critics and viewers alike for it's nostalgic elements, performances, writing and for it's callbacks to the original 1998 film while adding some elements of body horror to the material.

Cast

• Chandler Riggs as Zeke Tyler
• Andi Matichak as Delilah Profitt
• Joel Courtney as Casey Connor
• Bella Thorne as Stokely "Stokes" Mitchell
• Graham Phillips as Stan Rosado
• Abigail Breslin as Marybeth Louise Hutchinson
• John Krasinski as Professor Edward Furlong
• Kathleen Turner as Mrs. Karen Olson
• Jessica Chastain as Mrs. Elizabeth Burke
• Katie Aselton as Principal Valerie Drake
• Josh Brolin as Coach Joe Willis
• Gina Rodriguez as Nurse Rosa Harper
• Sally Field as Mrs. Agnes Brummel
• James Ransone as Mr. John Tate
• Shameik Moore as Gabe Santora
• Sydney Park as Tina Danhausen
• Bill Hader as Frank Connor
• Molly Ringwald as Mrs. Connor

Trivia

• Development on the film began in 2014 with The Weinstien Company distributing the film with their Dimension Films branch with Allen Aleca developing the script with Daniel Stamm attacted to direct but the film languished into development hell when The Weinstein Company filed for bankrupcy due to sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstien. The project was then greenlit when Miramax and Netflix took the rights of The Faculty from The Weinstien Company and set the remake on a July 21st, 2018 release date.
• Norman Reedus and Vin Diesel were considered for the role of Coach Joe Willis.
• Isabela Moner and Anya Taylor Joy auditioned for the roles of Delilah Profitt and Marybeth Louise Hutchinson.
• While developing a reboot to The Lost Boys (1987) for Warner Bros., John Francis Daley and Johnathan Goldstein delevolped the screenplay for The Faculty after they watched the original film. Goldstein stated in an interview: "The Faculty was one of those 90's teen horror thrillers that was somewhat overlooked or underappreciated over the years and when John and i watched the film on VHS, we can't help but fall in love with it. Sure the film can be smart, scary and pretty much ahead of it's time but it was a blast to watch. John and i decided to develop the script with a very different approach when we heard that Miramax and Netflix were in negotiations for a remake and they were impressed with our script and called it nostalgic but extremely scary and gut wrenching."
• Nina Dobrev was originally cast as Delilah Profitt but she dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with The Vampire Diaries.
• Kevin Williamson came on board the project after viewing the script as "A Cronenbergian gorefest that oozes with wit, nostalgia and respect for the original movie."
• Victoria Justice, Saxon Sharbino and Katelyn Nacon were considered for the role of Delilah Profitt
• Elijah Wood was approached by Kevin Williamson to reprise his role of Casey Conner but he refused and opted to do a cameo instead.
• Julia Roberts and Lake Bell were strong contenders for the role of Principal Valerie Drake.
• Judy Greer was originally cast as Miss Elizabeth Burke but she dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with Blumhouse's Halloween (2018).
• Logan Miller and Kenton Duty auditioned for the role of Zeke Tyler.
• Isabelle Fuhrman, Joey King and Bailee Madison were considered for the role of Stokely "Stokes" Mitchell.
• Dennis Quaid and Nichoals Cage were strong contenders for the role of Coach Joe Willis.

The Reviews of the original cast members of The Faculty (1998)

• The original cast members of The Faculty who played the six main characters voiced their opinion on the remake shorlty after it's release on Netflix:
• Elijah Wood (Casey Connor): It has been ten years since the original film was released and i had an awesome time on set at that time back in the 90's. As for this remake, it still has the heart of the original 1998 cult classic along with it's humor, wit and cleverness but it was comepletly different and more up to date. Aside from all of that, it was amazing to see the new Faculty film released on Neflix for a new generation and i loved every minute of it.
• Jordana Brewster (Delilah Profitt): I don't know why Hollywood wants to remake The Faculty to spite fans of the movie but they did a marvelous job on the material. I was working on Random Acts Of Violence when i heard that Dimension Films was remaking The Faculty, i was pretty angry at first due to some horror remake not being as good as the original but i realized that Dimension Films was filing for bankruptcy due to Harvey Weinstein's allegations of sexual misconduct with women. The remake was in very good hands with Neflix and Miramax and they showed me the rough cut of the film and i was blown away. Everything about the remake was almost completely different from the original Faculty and even showed the scene where my character now played by Andi Matichak being attacked in the faculty lounge closet by Coach Willis now played by Josh Brolin. That scene in particular was shown in TV Spots of the original movie. The remake was awesome, more gruesome and more smart than the original and shows that some horror remakes can be good and i loved it.
• Josh Hartnett (Zeke Tyler): The Faculty to me was a trip down memory lane for me since it was my second film worked on with Dimension Films after Halloween H20. Now that it's 20 years old, they're doing a remake of The Faculty and i was a little shocked that they were doing a remake of it. When Kevin Williamson called me about the remake, I came to the set of the remake and when discussed the script with me, I was pleasantly surprised when i found out that Blumhouse, Netflix and Miramax were behind the scenes. I was also surprised when i met the cast of the remake especially Chandler Riggs who just came off of The Walking Dead.