Katie Holmes to star in Guillermo del Toro thriller

Katie Holmes will star in “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” a thriller for Miramax Films that was scripted by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins.

Del Toro is producing with Mark Johnson and the film will be directed by del Toro protege Troy Nixey.

The film will shoot this summer in Melbourne as a “Guillermo del Toro Presentation.”

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” is based on a 1973 ABC telepic about a young girl who moves in with her father and his girlfriend and discovers they are sharing the house with devilish creatures.

Nixey, a comicbook artist, is making his feature directing debut. Del Toro sparked to “Latchkey’s Lament,” a Nixey-directed short that captured the tone del Toro wanted for “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.”

Del Toro and Johnson are also teamed with Gary Ungar to produce “Hater,” an adaptation of the David Moody horror novel that will be directed at Universal by Juan Antonio Bayona (“The Orphanage”).

Holmes most recently completed “The Extra Man,” directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini.

Del Toro is busy readying “The Hobbit,” which he’s writing with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. That film shoots next year.