Female-Fronted Sci-Fi Action Flick Coming From Tobey Maguire
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Tobey Maguire’s post-Spider-Man years have been largely quiet until the last few, as he emerged anew in The Great Gatsby and IFC’s epic miniseries spoof The Spoils of Babylon. He’s also getting more involved in the production side of things, and though he’s already got two sci-fi movies in production right now, his company, Material Pictures, is teaming with Sony for a female-led sci-fi action thriller. It’s called Resident Evi…just kidding.
Titled Eden Project, this flick hasn’t unveiled much in the way of details at this point, beyond the fact that it’s fronted by two female characters. But what is known is that it’s already shooting for trilogy status, so that could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how old the two female characters are and whether or not this will deal with a dystopian future where populations are separated into massive factions.
Sony purchased Eden Project as a spec script from screenwriter Christina Hodson, who has been a name familiar to those familiar with Black List scripts of recent years. (I think you have to have at least one laminated card for that.) She penned the psychological thriller Shut In in 2012, which Lava Bear (The Rover) acquired, and then she wrote the horror Seed in 2013, which Temple Hill (The Maze Runner) bought up and is producing. She also wrote an erotic thriller called Unforgettable, which Belle director Amma Asante is attached to helm. Sony reportedly paid $750,000 for the Eden Project script, so it’s apparently ruffled some feathers in the right way. Hodson’s name may soon become good for household use.
Maguire and his partner Matthew Plouffe—a name so nice, you have to say it twice—are also working with Sony on J. Blakeson’s YA novel adaptation The Fifth Wave, which stars Chloe Moretz and Liev Schreiber as people surviving in a world ripped apart by an alien invasion. Material is also producing Craig Zobel’s post-nuclear war sci-fi flick Z for Zachariah, with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Chris Pine. Here’s hoping these movies turn out as good as their casts.
Maguire is front and center in Material’s latest effort, the biographical drama Pawn Sacrifice, in which the actor plays chess mastermind Bobby Fischer during his matches with Russian fellow-mastermind Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber). It’s gotten decent reviews following its TIFF premiere this month, but we’re obviously more interested in seeing what else these guys will be producing in the future. It’s kind of like Elijah Wood’s horror-based production company Spectrevision. These guys know how to do it.
So let’s hope we get to see two ladies do it, and by “it” I mean engage audiences, whenever Eden Project gets the cursed apple rolling towards production.
