It’s always interesting to see what happens when an indie filmmaker gets their first big break with a major studio. In the case of Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard, the writer/director team behind the horror flicks A Horrible Way to Die and You’re Next, even though I’m not really familiar with their previous work, I was shocked to see them suddenly attached to a fast-tracked project at Warner Brothers called Dead Spy Running. It’s surprising in part because Wingard and Barrett are still fairly unknown, but on top of that, the project isn’t even a horror movie (as you can probably tell from the title). The plot supposedly revolves around a young DJ who is “forced to go on the run with a beautiful secret agent assigned to watch him after he is framed for his MI6 agent father’s murder.” Huh?

According to Deadline, the movie is based on the novel by Jon Stock, which has been described as “Ludlum meets Le Carre.” Barrett will rewrite a previous draft that was written by Stephen Gaghan (Traffic, Syriana) and Jamie Moss (Street Kings). The weird thing is, if you look at the plot synopsis of the book on Amazon, there is no mention of a young DJ anywhere. Is this a hip new twist that was dreamed up by producers Kevin McCormick and McG?

It all sounds a bit ridiculous, although it’s entirely possible that is what attracted Barrett and Wingard to it in the first place. I’ve seen their segments in the anthology films V/H/S and The ABCs of Death and they clearly have a sense of humour, although it doesn’t seem like this movie is supposed to be a joke. Then again, when Deadline’s description says, “He gets deeper into the world of espionage while never forgetting his background and skills as a DJ,” I have no idea what that means. Are you a fan of Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett and are you excited to see them work on Dead Spy Running?