Dan Trachtenberg received a lot of attention for his Portal short a few years ago (video below), and it helped him land a pretty sweet job: directing the adaptation for the comic book series Y: THE LAST MAN. However, he joined the project last year, and there hasn't been much news since, besides creator Brian K. Vaughan saying New Line might lose the rights to his comics if production doesn't start soon.
Now Dan Trachtenberg is attached to a new movie, and it'll be his feature film debut. The Wrap is reporting Trachtenberg will helm the thriller VALENCIA for J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot and Paramount. The budget for VALENCIA will only be $5 million, but it doesn't sound like this is the type of project that needs a ton of cash.
The majority of the movie takes place in an underground cellar, home to a teenage girl and a caretaker. The girl woke up in the cellar after a car accident, at which point her eerie companion tells her a nuclear attack has devastated society. The girl still hopes to escape.
It's not clear if Dan Trachtenberg is still attached to direct Y: THE LAST MAN, however VALENCIA will start filming this fall, so if New Line still wants him for the adaptation, he won't be able to start work on their movie until after he finishes VALENCIA. Maybe if Trachtenberg impresses the right people with his feature film debut things will move faster for Y: THE LAST MAN, but like I said, we don't know if New Line is still interested in Trachtenberg for their film.