Benedict Cumberbatch to Star in Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak

It's been a while since Guillermo del Toro's last movie was released to theaters, but he's quickly following up Pacific Rim with Crimson Peak, a new ghost story for Legendary Pictures. The latest casting news reveals that Benedict Cumberbatch has joined the project. According to Heat Vision, The Sherlock and Star Trek Into Darkness star will be joined by Charlie Hunnam and Emma Stone, with filming expected to begin early next year.

There are no story details available right now, but del Toro previously said that he’s aiming for a movie that can sit next to some of the great classic horror films. Here’s what he had to say about his influences:

“To me that is Robert Wise’s The Haunting, which was a big movie, beautifully directed, with the house built magnificently. And the other grand daddy is Jack Clayton’s The Innocents. I’ve always tried to make big-sized horror movies like the ones I grew up watching… Films like The Omen, The Exorcist and The Shining, the latter of which is another Mount Everest of the haunted house movie. I loved the way that Kubrick had such control over the big sets he used, and how much big production value there was. I think people are getting used to horror subjects done as found footage or B-value budgets. I wanted this to feel like a throwback.”

Crimson Peak was originally written by del Toro and Matthew Robbins (Don't Be Afraid of the Dark), and it's been reported that Lucinda Coxon was brought in for a rewrite.