Five Nights at Freddy's: Cast for Planned Film Expands

A movie for the upcoming adaptation of the multi-part horror game "Five Nights at Freddy's" has been in planning for quite some time. Apart from the announcement that Blumhouse will produce the film, there has been little information so far. Well, that changed this week when the signing of the first cast members was announced. So far, "Scream" actor Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson, who played the character Peeta Mellark in "The Hunger Games", have joined the cast. Hutcherson will play the main role of security guard Mike Schmidt, while Lillard will star as the antagonist. Also cast is newcomer Piper Rubio, who will play Mike's sister. Gathering behind the camera are Emma Tammi, who steps in for the "Harry Potter" director Chris Columbus who was originally slated to direct, and "Five Nights at Freddy's" creators Seth Cuddeback and Scott Cawthon, who are working with Tammi on the script.

The "Five Nights at Freddy's" video games are about a gradually unfolding backstory, which at times is not told chronologically. The big antagonist is the inventor William Afton, who created highly advanced animatronics for his company Fazbear Entertainment. These were actually intended for entertaining children in restaurants. As it later turns out, there is much more behind the characters than just harmless fun, as security guard Mike will very quickly discover during his shifts.

In the world of gaming, "Five Nights at Freddy's" is a well-established franchise with nine games in its main series. It is not known whether the entire storyline will be adapted into a movie straight away or whether the one or other option might be left open in case of success. The shooting of the film is scheduled to start in a few months.