British actor Eddie Redmayne goes to Jupiter Ascending for the Wachowskis

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

With CLOUD ATLAS polarizing audiences across the map, Andy and Lana Wachowski are off on their next journey…to Jupiter!

According to Variety, British actor Eddie Redmayne (seen right) is nearing a deal to join Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis (below) in JUPITER ASCENDING, the Wachowskis’ lofty sci-fi thriller. No specifics as to Redmayne’s role were given, but that’s no real shock considering the clandestine nature of the Wachowskis’ scripts.

Actually, I’m surprised we know this much about the film:

Imagine a universe in which “human beings are just the Cro-Magnons, or even the Australopithecines, of what beings can ultimately go on to become in the galaxy. It’s a return to form for [the Wachowskis], because these higher forms of life are watching us from other, albeit this time non-meta worlds, but actual, other worlds, as in planets and moons.”

The film centers on an unlikely (and ultimately reluctant) heroine: A recent Russian immigrant — played by actual Ukrainian immigrant Mila Kunis — who is busily scrubbing toilets for a living. Unbeknownst to her, she actually possesses the same perfect genetic makeup as the Queen of the Universe and is therefore a threat to her otherwise immortal rule.

These evolved beings fall into various different groups, all of which share some human DNA but who have become evolved after being bred with animal DNA to heighten their best characteristics — e.g., soldiers getting their fearlessness, strength, and a pack mentality from wolves; workers getting their industriousness and reputation for diligence from bees.

Pretty soon, a bounty hunter of the evolved-being type is dispatched to dispose of the Cleaning Lady with the Great Pair of Nucloetides, but, as you’d expect with a Matrix re-dux, they fall in love. And for having fallen for his target, the bounty hunter — who we hear will be played by Channing Tatum — well, let’s just say that things get messy after that, because his employers take a-less-than-enlightened-being reaction to his decision to protect rather than kill her.

JUPITER ASCENDING looks to lens in early 2013.