Regular readers of this site should, by now, be well familiar with director Shane Meadows. The man behind A Room For Romeo Brass, Dead Man's Shoes and This Is England is a great favorite in these parts, so much so that I would actually Meadows may be the greatest currently active English director. No doubt he is certainly one of the most distinctive and any list of big British names that failed to list him any earlier than fifth should immediately be considered suspect. But as diverse as his body of work is, one thing that Meadows has never done is horror - the closest he's ever come being grim revenge thriller Dead Man's Shoes. But that's about to change. Very few details are known at this point but Film 4 have announced that they will be backing Meadows' new picture Beware The Devil. What this means for the long rumored King of the Gypsies is unclear but I'm being told that this will be Meadows' next project.
And because fans want to know, Meadows' just-completed comedy Le Donk - a reunion with frequent collaborator Paddy Considine - will soon be having its world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival so expect future festival appearances and theatrical roll outs to follow soon after.
This is outstanding news.