Johnny Depp's 'Nightstalker' Gets a Writer

Disney has picked High Fidelity scribe D.V. DeVincentis to pen a big screen adaptation of the ABC TV series The Night Stalker. Darren McGavin starred in the short-lived TV series that lasted just one season in 1974-1975, but became a cult hit in syndication. Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim, has signed on to direct the big screen Night Stalker.

The TV series followed the exploits of the Chicago-based investigative reporter Carl Kolchak whose specialty is stories involving bizarre occurrences, often with supernatural overtones. Depp’s Infinitum Nihil production company acquired the rights to the Night Stalker in 2011, and the signings of DeVincentis and Wright appear to signal that Disney is making the project something of a priority.