The 1992 thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is getting a fresh reboot from 20th Century Studios with Star Wars actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead in negotiations to star opposite horror queen Maika Monroe. Michelle Garza Cervera is attached to direct the project from a script by Micah Bloomberg, creator of the psychological drama series Homecoming on Amazon Prime Video, and the Rom-com Sanctuary starring Margaret Qualley.
Curtis Hanson directed the original film, starring Rebecca De Mornay, Annabella Sciorra, Matt McCoy, Ernie Hudson, and Julianne Moore. It follows the pregnant wife (De Mornay) of a physician who is accused of sexual misconduct and kills himself. As per the movie’s synopsis, the shock leads the wife to miscarry, after which she poses as a nanny for one of her husband’s accusers (Sciorra), and slowly begins to infiltrate the family. The suspenseful story about a sinister, manipulative caregiver seeking revenge on an unsuspecting, happily married wife captivated audiences, earning $88 million worldwide.
Over 30 years later, De Mornay admits she was seemingly surprised by the film’s success. In a new interview with The Independent, she said:
“Even The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, I couldn’t predict the finished product. I thought, who’s going to watch a movie about a psychotic nanny?”
Michelle Garza Cervera Takes On the ‘Maternal Horror’ Subgenre
Winstead will play the role originated by Sciorra in the upcoming remake and Monroe will take on the character made famous by De Mornay, per Deadline. The project adds to Monroe’s impressive roster of horror titles and psychological thrillers. She earned praise this year for the suspense film Longlegs opposite Nicolas Cage, and she’s also set to reprise her role in It Follows sequel They Follow. Winstead stars in the Disney+ Star Wars TV series Ahsoka, and appears in the Showtime limited series A Gentleman in Moscow with Ewan McGregor.
The dynamic pairing of Winstead and Monroe in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is likely to attract modern audiences. Fans are hoping the rest of the cast command a similar screen presence as the duo. The original 1992 movie got its inspiration from a poem by William Ross Wallace that celebrates the role of women and motherhood: “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World.” Cervera will further explore this theme in the upcoming reboot as part of her continued work in the “maternal horror” subgenre.
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The filmmaker earned widespread acclaim in 2022 for her award-winning body horror feature Huesera, which centers on a mother who loses herself to the influence of supernatural forces, per THR. Speaking about her interest in marrying horror with maternal figures, Cervera told Paste Magazine:
“I started doing horror—like short films—a long time ago, but when I picked this theme, I was completely, 100% sure that horror was perfect for it because it just allows you to do a certain kind of focus and introspection into these things that are very hard to speak of. And sometimes we already think it’s very normalized to speak about these other aspects of parenthood but it’s really not—at least in my country!”
Ted Field will produce the new The Hand That Rocks the Cradle movie, along with Michael Schaefer and Mike Larocca for Radar Pictures. The title does not have a release date. In the meantime, the original movie is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.