Juame Collet-Siera’s 2009 horror-thriller Orphan saw an unsuspecting family adopting a seemingly innocent child named Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) who wasn’t what she seemed. In fact (spoilers), she wasn’t a child at all, but a 33-year-old woman named Lena Klammer with a rare hormonal disorder that had stunted her growth—and she was anything but innocent.
Now, it looks like we’ll be learning more about her back story in Esther, an upcoming prequel to be directed by William Brent Bell (The Boy, Brahms: The Boy II). The film was written by David Coggeshall (Prey, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia) and will see Esther/Lena escaping from a Russian psychiatric facility and traveling to America. Impersonating a wealthy family’s missing daughter, her plan comes with an unexpected wrinkle and pits her against a mother who will protect her family at any cost.
Sierra/Affinity is shopping Esther at the European Film Market in Berlin. Production is expected to start in the third quarter.
Words: Samantha McLaren (@themeatispeople)
