Beaks here...

No disrespect to the lovely Danielle Panabaker (pictured above), but the real story here is that John Carpenter is a month away from shooting his first theatrical feature in eight years. And while I dug his MASTERS OF HORROR episodes (written by the dynamic writing duo of Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan), I cannot wait to see the man composing in widescreen again.

In any event, Ms. Panabaker (last seen in the FRIDAY THE 13TH remake) will be joining Amber Heard in Carpenter's THE WARD, which is about a girl who encounters some spooky goings-on in a psychiatric ward. According to The Hollywood Reporter's Borys Kit, Panabaker has been cast as a "flirtatious" lass who incurs repeat bouts of electroshock therapy. Heard will play the lead. Mamie Gummer (aka Meryl Streep's daughter) has also come on board the film.

The screenplay for THE WARD was originally written by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen, but has since been revised by Jim Agnew and Sean Keller (who also wrote GIALLO for Dario Argento as well as L.A. GOTHIC, which Carpenter was slated to direct a year ago). This is an independent production for Echo Lake Entertainment and A Bigger Boat. Here's hoping the sixty-one-year-old Carpenter comes roaring back to form with this one. It's worth noting that one of Carpenter's heroes, Howard Hawks, was sixty-two when he directed RIO BRAVO.