Cops are a hardy perennial when it comes to movie fodder. And horror is likewise a powerhouse genre. So it makes you wonder why the two don’t get combined more often. Scott Derrickson is currently developing just such a mash-up with police paranormal thriller Beware The Night. It appears he’s close to recruiting a lead, as Eric Bana is in talks to star.

If he signs, Bana would play a New York police officer who investigates real life demon possessions, exorcisms and other supernatural creatures, including werewolves. Sounds a little like The X-Files meets NYPD Blue.

Derrickson co-wrote the script with regular collaborator Paul Boardman, and Screen Gems is backing the movie. Mark Wahlberg was the first name courted for the lead gig, but he’s decided not to take it on – perhaps because his full schedule now also includes Transformers 4. Hence Bana being called.

The actor, last seen by most of us in Hanna and by a few in Deadfall, is currently shooting Peter Berg’s Last Survivor (which coincidentally also features Wahlberg), and will next crop up in legal terrorism thriller Closed Circuit alongside Rebecca Hall.

Source: Empire Online