Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Clea Duvall and Kadee Strickland Join “Grudge”; More Plot Details Uncovered
Written 01-15-2004 by ChrisFaile

Clea Duvall ("Carnivàle," "Identity") and Kadee Strickland (a supporting player in "Something’s Gotta Give" and "Anything Else") are the latest two actors to join the remake of Takashi Shimizu’s Japanese-language horror film “The Grudge,” FilmJerk.com has learned. They will play the sisters Jennifer and Susan Williams, respectively; in addition, casting notices have since gone out for the role of their mother, as well as for three supporting roles. The production, which already has cast a pair of WB series veterans in Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Behr, is set to begin January 26 in Tokyo, Japan.

Basing itself on plot elements from the films “Ju-on," “Ju-on: The Grudge” and "Ju-on: The Grudge 2," the film has been described as being about “a murderous supernatural curse, born from a grudge that is held by someone who dies angry. The curse passes like a virus to its victims.” Prior to this point, little else was known was about the plot, but casting documents FilmJerk.com, which we have obtained from sources, give further depth.

The role of Claire Williams, yet to be cast, is described as a Caucasian woman in her 60s and the mother of Matthew (also to be cast), Susan and Jennifer Williams. In the film, Claire comes with her son and daughter-in-law Jennifer to live in Tokyo. An old woman who never speaks, Claire feels overwhelming dread the moment she sets foot in their new house. After moving in, her health deteriorates, and she requires regular care. A mute witness to the deaths of Matthew, Jennifer, and her regular nurse Rika, Claire tries vainly to warn Karen (played by Gellar) when she shows up to take over Rika’s job — but she’s too dazed and disoriented to communicate. . Also being cast are the crucial supporting roles of Maria, a breathtakingly beautiful and sensual Latin woman in her 30s, and Peter, an English teacher. At the start of the film, Maria is happily married to Peter, but - out of nowhere - Peter casually commits suicide, hurling himself out of a window to his death.

Three years later, Maria is working as a Japanese "hostess," and she has lost the purity viewers once saw in her at the beginning of the movie; she is obviously lost without Peter. She has succumbed to the hard life, with teased-up hair, heavy makeup, and short, tight, revealing clothes. Still embittered over the death of her husband and her descent into the world of sex workers, Maria is gruffly uncommunicative when Karen shows up to investigate Peter’s death as part of “The Grudge” but she yields to nostalgia and looks through her old photos from the happy days of her courtship and marriage. Can she give Karen enough clues to the stop the supernatural curse?

Director Shimizu wrote and directed the original film and producers for the remake include “Spider-Man” director Sam Raimi. The screenplay for the new film is credited to Stephen Susco.

The Scorecard
Producers: Nathan Kahane, Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi, Taka Ichise, Doug Davison and Roy Lee
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Writer: Stephen Susco
Casting Directors: Nancy Nayor and Kelly Wagner
Start Date: January 26, 2004
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Production Company: Senator International, Ghost House Pictures and Vertigo Entertainment

From Comingsoon.net :

Pullman, DuVall & Mapother Hold a Grudge
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Sunday, January 25, 2004

Bill Pullman, Clea DuVall and William Mapother have joined Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr and KaDee Strickland in helmer Takashi Shimizu’s The Grudge, the English-language remake of Ju-on produced by Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures for Columbia Pictures. Shooting starts in Tokyo later this month.

The film centers on a curse that befalls someone who dies in the grip of a powerful rage. Those who encounter this murderous supernatural curse die, and a new one is born — passed like a virus from victim to victim.

DuVall and Mapother play a husband and wife living in Tokyo who unwittingly encounter the violent curse of their home’s previous owner. Pullman plays an English professor.