House Of Cards’ Kate Lyn Sheil Joins Nicholas Hoult In Sci-Fi Love Story Equals

By Nick Venable | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

house of cards kate lyn sheilDon’t you wish that you could just turn all your emotions off sometimes? That’s the gist behind the plot of Equals, the latest love story from Breathe In director Drake Doremus. The futuristic Ridley Scott-produced drama has just added House of Cards actress Kate Lyn Sheil to the cast, which already includes such big names as Nicholas Hoult, Kristen Stewart, and the recently added Guy Pearce. It’s a pretty big move for the already prolific actress.

Equals features a pretty complex plot that could make this a truly unique flick. It’s set in a world where emotions have been completely eradicated and people are now bred to be “Equals.” This seemingly perfect existence is, of course, thrown into complete disarray when a new disease called Switched-On-Syndrome (SOS) starts running rampant and activating emotions within some Equals, who are then banished from society and never seen again. Sounds about right.

Hoult plays Silas, a guy who finds himself infected by the SOS and who is cast out until he meets up with Nia (Stewart). She also has the disease, but she’s figured out how to completely hide her emotions. Sheil enters the film as Kate, a co-worker of both Silas and Nia. Will she be friendly and help them out with their problems, or will she turn in the both of them in the name of truth and justice? (At this point, I don’t think too much has been revealed on Pearce’s role in the movie.)

Doremus, perhaps best known for the 2011 troubled-love flick Like Crazy, will be working from a script written by Nathan Parker. GFR readers may know him for penning the screenplay to Duncan Jones’ atmospheric 2009 drama Moon. His only other produced feature was Elliott Lester’s 2011 crime thriller Blitz, starring Jason Statham.

kate lyn sheil

If you’re a huge fan of indie cinema, you’ve probably seen Sheil’s face a time or twelve. Since making her debut in Alex Ross Perry’s 2009 drama Impolex, she’s been in over 20 features (and a handful of shorts), with another four films on the way in the coming year. She has appeared in several films from Ti West (The Sacrament), Adam Wingard (You’re Next), and Joe Swanberg (Autoerotic), along with many others. On the TV side of things, she played prostitute Rachel’s new lesbian lover on House of Cards, making things quite complicated for all involved. (The image above is Sheil appearing in Rick Alverson’s The Comedy.)

Sheil will soon be seen in Perry’s drama Listen Up Philip, starring Jason Schwartzman, as well as Adam Newport-Berra’s romantic dramedy Thanksgiving, Jaffe Zinn’s thriller Children, and Robert Hillyer Barnett’s horror Tears of God.

Equals is set to go into production in August, filming in Japan and Singapore. We’re not getting too emotional about this one just yet, but we’re hoping.