John Goodman in talks to star in Dan Trachtenberg’s Valencia for Bad Robot

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Back in April we learned that JJ Abrams‘ Bad Robot had signed commercial director Dan Trachtenberg to direct their latest project, the thriller VALENCIA, for Paramount Pictures’ Insurge division, with the film greenlit for a fall start. Today Variety is reporting that RED STATE's John Goodman is now in talks to star in the thriller.

Trachtenberg, a successful director of commercials and short films, has been attached to several movies over the past few years, including the film version of the cult classic Y THE LAST MAN, but will be making his feature debut with VALENCIA. With this being a JJ Abrams project, many of the details are being kept under wraps but we do know that Trachtenberg will direct from a script by Dan Casey, who rewrote an earlier draft by Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken. As for the plot of the film, this is what we know:

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.

Variety reports that Goodman will play the caretaker/companion, which is a great casting choice as he is able to walk the fine line between lovable and intimidating, as evidenced by many of his film roles, most notably his quick-to-anger and slighly dangerous Walter in the Coen Brothers' THE BIG LEBOWSKI.

The movie will cost around $5 million, in keeping with Insurge's mandate to release microbudget fare. The distributor bought the project a couple of years ago, and it has been in development ever since.

Dan Trachtenberg