Don’t worry, haters, it isn’t Damon Lindelof but that other screenwriter for PROMETHEUS, Jon Spaihts. Keanu Reeves will star in Spaihts story entitled PASSENGERS which will be directed by GAME OF THRONES director Brian Kirk. The movie is being produced by Wayfare Entertainment who hope to sell it to a studio at the Cannes Film Festival.
Keanu Reeves has not had a major studio film since 2008’s THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Since then he has appeared in several smaller movies and worked on some documentaries. He is due to be seen next in his directorial debut MAN OF TAI CHI and the long delayed 47 RONIN. I like Keanu Reeves and hope these films kickstart his Hollywood career again.
PASSENGERS will have an intriguing story. Check out the synopsis courtesy of Deadline:
The story follows a spacecraft transporting thousands of people to a distant colony planet that has a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers. As a result, a single passenger (Reeves) is awakened 90 years before anyone else. Faced with the prospect of growing old and dying alone, he eventually decides to wake up a second passenger, marking the beginning of what becomes a unique love story.
This sounds more along the lines of SOLARIS or Danny Boyle‘s SUNSHINE in that it will rely more on the emotional and psychological aspects of space travel. With Alfonso Cuaron’s GRAVITY set for release later this year along with Christopher Nolan‘s INTERSTELLAR next year, we look to be getting a nice string of smart science fiction films coming in a row.