‘Freaks,’ 1991?

“We may or may not find the person we’re looking for,” admits filmmaker Sean Cunningham, of his search for the right disabled actor to star in “The Gypsy’s Curse,” from the 1974 Harry Crews novel of the same title.

The story, about four physically abnormal men who hang out in a gym, centers on Marvin Molar, a handsome deaf mute with no legs who walks on his hands--and ends up in a tragic love affair. (When it was first published, some critics compared Crews’ novel to Tod Browning’s 1932 film “Freaks.”)

Cunningham originally tried to film “The Gypsy’s Curse” seven years ago, but the challenge of casting Molar and other problems derailed the project. Now expected to roll mid-May, the film may not star an amputee.

“We’ve been looking at a number of actors who lost some use of their legs,” Cunningham says. “And we’re also looking at actors who aren’t disabled.”

Cunningham, who recently wrapped work on “House IV,” says “Gypsy’s Curse” is planned as a low-budget art film, not a horror show.

“It’s Southern gothic,” he says, “definitely closer to William Faulkner than to Stephen King.”