Léa Seydoux Joins Mikey Madison in A24's Poe Adaptation

Movieweb reports Léa Seydoux has joined Mikey Madison in A24's reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 short story The Masque of the Red Death.

Director Charlie Polinger will helm the adaptation, which begins production in Hungary next month and is described as revisionist and “darkly funny,” per The Hollywood Reporter. Madison plays twin sisters, with one infiltrating Prince Prospero's castle and encountering a shimmering world of scheming, drugs, sex, and decapitations, while Seydoux is cast as a lady-in-waiting trying to claw her way up the social ladder.

The original Poe tale depicts a fatal masquerade ball inside Prince Prospero's abbey, where nobles succumb to a plague known as the Red Death after the arrival of a mysterious attendee.

The Masque of the Red Death was previously adapted more than 60 years ago by Roger Corman in a version that, according to the source material, starred Vincent Prince and incorporated subplots from Poe's "Hop-Frog" and Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's "Torture by Hope," earning a 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Key Topics

Culture, Léa Seydoux, Mikey Madison, Charlie Polinger, Hungary