Just a moment ago Variety reported that Sony was in early talks with Jennifer Lawrence to play the female lead in Passengers. Only for The Wrap to chime-in with their own scoop that Chris Pratt is also in the mix for the male lead.
Set in the future aboard a spacecraft, “Passengers” follows a man who awakens early from a cryogenic slumber and to spare himself from being lonely, decides to wake up a female passenger, which is the role Lawrence is circling.
Two high-profiled actors that were recently titled the biggest box office earners of 2014 in one film screams heat, something to consider during it's early casting days.
Pratt has been linked to a bunch of different films including a possible reboot of Indiana Jones. Lawrence was also mentioned as a desired addition for Sony's Ghostbusters reboot, so they've previously talked to the actress about projects.
Keanu Reeves was previously mentioned for the male lead a while back but Pratt seems a bit more age appropriate for lead like Lawrence.
In a world of where Avatar is the highest grossing film of all-time, Star Wars is making a huge comeback with five officially slated films, Guardians of The Galaxy being the breakout hit of 2014 and a fifth Transformers film on the horizon I think it's safe to say that audiences are embracing sci-fi fantasy material more than ever.
Upcoming films such as Neill Blomkamp's Chappie and Alex Garland's (28 Days Later, Sunshine, Dredd) directorial debut Ex Machina are already heavily buzzed about projects coming in 2015.
It's crazy to think that studios have some really interesting science fiction material in their laps and aren't putting them into production right this minute.
There are three projects currently stuck in development limbo that could easily find audiences and make huge impacts on the genre itself.
DUNE
Paramount had been trying for ages to develop a new feature film version of Frank Herbert's Dune. It seemed to get rolling when directors like Peter Berg (Lone Survivor) and Pierre Morrel (Taken) got involved, both would eventually exit the director's chair. The project would eventually disappear and we haven't had an update in a long time, until the studio admitted it was dead.
The amazing documentary Jodorowsky's Dune follows the original failed attempt to make the film in the 70's. In the documentary the filmmaker makes a good case to actually use his material as is but with an updated cast of course (many are now long dead).
It should make fans furious that someone hasn't optioned his work to turn that into a film or at the very least try to improve on the mess of a film David Lynch made, even though I still enjoy that movie a lot I can agree it's not great.
Even the television mini-series proved the material was solid and just needed a better story teller or someone who could work on that scale.
Jodorowsky's huge artbook included a majority of it's hand-drawn storyboards and most of it's production design (costumes, sets and vehicles) were sent out to studios and shockingly rejected, only to see a bunch of the sci-fi film community stealing his ideas including George Lucas and many of his concept artists for Star Wars.
H.R. Giger's work on the failed film also caught the attention of the people putting together Ridley Scott's Alien. Giger's work for the film is batshit crazy and I'd love to see on the screen someday.
This material still hasn't been adapted to the standard it deserves and it could even rival something like Star Wars if put in the right hands, the world is so rich and worth exploring on a grand scale. I'm kind of hoping Paramount wakes-up from their Transformers and Ninja Turtles coma to get this fucking made.
Here's some of the concept art Paramount had put together for the remake by artist Jock (Dredd).
Check out this extra concept artwork from Feng Zhu and Eduardo Pena posted by i09.
COWBOY BEBOP
20th Century Fox tried to get a live-action film based on the anime series back in 2008-2010 hiring Peter Craig (The Town, Bad Boys 3, Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1) to pen a script, it would undergo many rewrites but ultimately was shelved by the studio.
Considering films like Guardians of The Galaxy and the return of Star Wars I'm shocked that talk of bringing back Cowboy Bebop into development hasn't been making the rounds. The project was widely supported by it's rather large fanbase and even had Keanu Reeves attached to play the lead role of .
Apparently, the reason like with Dune came down to budgetary restrictions and Reeves even said the film would end-up costing huge amounts of money even by Hollywood standards. After costly gambles like John Carter and Green Lantern losing studios hundreds of millions in loses due to their skyrocketing budgets you can understand why the priority might be to keep a manageable budget as these studio people want to keep their jobs.
Then again, if you can find a director able to keep effects costs down like a Neill Blomkamp or Gareth Edwards who have digital effects background then the film might not need a bloated amount of money to pull-off an ambitious script.
I think this material is going to be a hot commodity very soon, let's hope Fox comes to their senses and figures things out to get it into production.
EVANGELION
Evangelion has a bit of a tricky backstory since it had a live-action film in development but the people originally developing it didn't have full film rights to it. Hence the project never saw the light of day even though a bunch of concept artwork had been commissioned by Weta Workshop in New Zealand. The rights have seemingly been cleared-up but hasn't found a home.
Hollywood is starting-up it's obsession with anime/manga material and it sort of started with Edge of Tomorrow (based on book that was turned into manga) making waves last year. Along with studio projects that include Ghost In The Shell, Akira, Robotech and even Astro Boy in the works.
It's also hard to ignore that Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim was greatly inspired by material like Evangelion. That film is spawning sequels and it didn't have an existing fanbase supporting it just audiences hungry for this type of genre to be shown on screens.
We've seen that Warner Bros. is open to this kind of material originally partnering with Legendary Pictures to make Rim, only for it's sequel to go off to Universal. This could easily be it's replacement franchise becoming a giant-fuck-up to Legendary.
Since the comic book genre is almost picked-clean Hollywood is already looking into developing video games, anime and manga source material into live-action film franchises. I expect we'll start seeing studios scrambling to get the rights to the bigger anime and manga projects, like Evangelion.
AICN posted a bunch of concept artwork Weta Workshop had been developing for the live-action adaptation. Weta of course already having a strong connection with Warner Bros. thanks to both the Lord of The Rings and Hobbit trilogies. The company is also said to be greatly involved with Batman v Superman, continuing the relationship with a project like this seems like an excellent parring.
Will these films ever see the light of day?
That remains to be seen and I'm sure once studios start backtracking at the projects they laying-around they'll start rethinking their previously decisions.
Deadline says an offer has gone out to Kate Mara (House of Cards, Iron Man 2, Fantastic Four) for an unnamed role in Ridley Scott's The Martian. The sci-fi thriller setup at 20th Century Fox, has a script by Drew Goddard (Cloverfield, Cabin In The Woods) and is based on the novel by Andy Weir. I'm sure we'll be hearing a bunch of casting news concerning the project in the coming weeks.
Matt Damon is set for the lead role, with Jessica Chastain reportedly cast in a role and Kristen Wiig also circling the project. I haven't read Weir's novel, but there seems to be a lot of ladies involved currently. TheWrap recently reported that Canadian newcomer Mackenzie Davis (Halt And Catch Fire) was posed to take a supporting role. We have to assume that there are a bunch of roles that are being cast, since most of Ridley's casts are rather large.
Deadline reports the casting for Ridley Scott's next science-fiction film is underway. Jessica Chastain and Kristen Wiig are circling the female leads, opposite Matt Damon in The Martian. The film setup at 20th Century Fox, was adapted from the Andy Weir novel by screenwriter Drew Goddard (Daredevil, Cabin The Woods, Sinister Six, Cloverfield). It centres around an astronaut (Damon), who must survive his mission to Mars.
Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has hired Bioshock creator Ken Levine to write a new draft of the script for their remake of Logan's Run. The film has Ryan Gosling attached to star but is currently without a director. Nicolas Winding Refn, Bryan Singer, Alex Garland and Joseph Kosinski have previously been attached to helm the sci-fi project.
TheWrap reports that two actors are in talks for lead roles in Alex Garland's (28 Days Later, Dredd, Sunshine) directorial debut Ex Machina. Oscar Isaac (Drive, Borne Legacy) and Domhnall Gleeson (Dredd, Harry Potter, Never Let Me Go) could end up playing the two male leads.While actresses Felicity Jones (Amazing Spider-Man 2, Like Crazy) and Alicia Vikander are being linked for the role of the female robot.
"A billionaire programmer (Isaac) who handpicks a young employee (Gleeson) to spend a week at his remote estate and participate in a test involving his latest invention – an artificially intelligent female robot."
Deadline reports that Aussie actor Liam Hemsworth (Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Expendables 2) is in talks for the lead role in The Raven. The science fiction thriller is based on a short viral video by director Ricardo de Montreuil which was picked up by Universal to be turned into a feature film. It has a script from Michael Gilio and Justin Marks and is expected to begin production in June.
Warner Bros. has set the release date for The Wachowski's (Matrix, Cloud Atlas) sci-fi epic Jupiter Ascending. The studio sees a tentpole as the film will be in theaters on July 25th 2014. Ascending stars Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Tuppence Middleton and Douglas Booth. It sounds like it takes elements from both Dune and Star Wars so it could be one to keep an eye on.
Deadline reports that Paul Bettany (Iron Man) has joined the cast of Wally Pfister's directorial debut Transcendence. The sci-fi film stars Johnny Depp with the rumored plot of a man being trapped in an advanced super computer. Other names that had been interested include Emily Blunt (Looper), Rooney Mara (Dragon Tattoo, Side Effects), Noomi Rapace, (Prometheus) Rebecca Hall (The Town), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), James McAvoy (Trance), Christian Bale and Tobey Maguire. A release date hasn't been announced but it's possible WB could be looking at July 2014.
THR reports that actor Hugh Laurie (House, Black Adder) is in talks to play the villain in Brad Bird's Tomorrowland which stars George Clooney. Nothing is really known about the science fiction film besides having a link to the Disney theme park and mysterious box labeled 1952. Laurie had been previously linked for the villain role in the Robocop reboot which eventually went to Michael Keaton.
Robert confirmed over the summer that Machete Kills Again In Space
would also go into production. The third sequel would involve Machete
Cortez in a science fiction actioner in the vein of Paul Verhoeven's
Total Recall (originally shot in Mexico City). He told Vulture
over the summer that he was going to shoot a faux trailer for Machete
Kills Again (Machete In Space) which could be attached to the opening or
end of Machete Kills. I assume this trailer would be a way to get more
funding for the film which would need a bigger budget than previous
installments. Rodriguez confirmed that both Machete
sequels are greenlit, but before he makes the second film, Machete
Kills, he'll produce another fake trailer for the improbably named third
film, Machete Kills Again … in Space. (Fitting, since the first Machete
originated as a fake trailer sandwiched in the middle of Grindhouse.)
"I think it's going to get people excited about Machete again,"
Rodriguez said, promising "a light-saber machete, space-babes … it'll be
kind of like Moonraker!" We humbly suggested that the second,
earthbound Machete might pale in comparison after audiences glimpse
Rodriguez's antihero carving up baddies in space, but the director
laughed, "There's kind of a reason why the trailer has to come first,
which you won't know until you see the second one. But I wanna see that
one right now, too!"
HeatVision is reporting Christopher Nolan's next film will be a full jump into the world of science fiction. We had a taste of sci-fi with Inception using dream-machines and the world of the dream being explored. This original film Interstellar written by his brother Jonathan Nolan will be based on the sciencetific theories of Kip Thorne. It's story involves time travel and alternate dimensions, and sees a group of explorers travel through a wormhole. Interstellar will be made under Nolan's Syncopy banner but will be shared between Paramount and Warner Bros. At one point Steven Spielberg had been interested in the project.
Nothing is being mentioned cast-wise but Michael Caine confirmed last year he was going to have a role in Nolan's next project which would be from an original concept. It's possible that other Nolan regulars will take part in the journey as well. Currently, Nolan is producing Wally Pfister's directorial debut sci-fi thriller Transcendence. A start date for Interstellar isn't revealed either but I'm sure casting will high priority for Nolan soon.
