Mads Mikkelsen got noticed by many Americans thanks to the NBC series Hannibal. The show was produced by Brian Fuller, who has had a successful career on the small screen, being behind several well regarded shows from Pushing Daisies to Star Trek: Discovery. But now Fuller has his sights set not on a new series, but rather a movie, and he’s going to bring Mads Mikkelsen with him for a new “family” horror movie called Dust Bunny.
According to THR, Dust Bunny will tell the story of a eight-year-old girl who goes to her neighbor for help with killing the monster under her bed, the monster she believes has eaten her family. While not specified, it seems clear Mikkelsen will play the neighbor. In addition to writing the script and producing the project, Fuller is also set to direct, marking his film debut in that role.
One the one hand, this sounds like the wildest thing that two guts that made a series about Hannibal Lecter could possibly work on together. And yet, it actually makes a lot of sense.
The premise of Dust Bunny sounds like a purified form of Bryan Fuller’s unique style. The show’s he’s created frequently have a very quirky feel to them and sometimes combine very dark elements with very light humor. Fuller’s style, being generally geared toward television, usually stops short of getting too mature for a prime time audience, and this sounds very much like it could be something in the same vein, though certainly as a movie if it wants to go further, it can.
Mads Mikkelsen sounds like the perfect bit of casting for a movie like this. Mikkelsen frequently plays villains, and while it seems his character here will be one of the good guys, he’ll likely still be playing the “weird guy next door” that this little girl goes to for help because she probably doesn’t have many other options. Mads Mikkelsen certainly has experience in family movies, he’s made Pixar films, after all.
While Bryan Fuller has made TV movies before, Dust Bunny seems to be designed as a more traditional film release. That’s not to say it will end up on the big screen, of course. The project might end up on Netflix or some other streaming service, but will likely be produced as a theatrical film rather than a TV movie.
Bryan Fuller is especially busy right now. In addition to this new movie, Fuller is producing a new series, Crystal Lake, a prequel series for the original Friday the 13th film. That show is set to debut on NBC’s Peacock streaming service.
While we don’t know which of these projects will get first, since Dust Bunny has a completed script and has cast a major role, this will likely be Bryan Fuller’s next project, with Crystal Lake set to be what he works on once the movie is done.