Directors Joe and Anthony Russo are summoning some of Hollywood’s finest to star in their upcoming Netflix film The Electric State. According to Variety, Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Altered Carbon), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian), Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Goonies), and Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade, The Gray Man) will join the voice cast.
Millie Bobby Brown leads The Electric State as a young woman traveling across the country after a civil war between humanity and the robots that once served them spirals out of control. While searching for her missing brother, Brown’s character meets a mysterious smuggler, played by Chris Pratt. Stanley Tucci and Jason Alexander also star.
Always ready to play a villain, Esposito stars as an antagonist named Marshall, a robotic drone operated by Esposito’s character remotely and tasked with hunting down the robot traveling with Brown’s character on her quest. Meanwhile, Quan plays a doctor Brown’s character is desperate to find. Initially, Quan’s Everything Everywhere All At Once co-star Michelle Yeoh was going to play the character but needed to bow out due to scheduling issues.
The Electric State came about after screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely discovered a book of illustrations by Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag. The project began as a Kickstarter event. The preview for the project was so enticing that Markus and McFeely couldn’t look away. AGBO became involved a bit later, looking to develop spinoff projects based on the work.
Production for The Electric State is currently underway in Atlanta, with the Russo Brothers eager to share the story with Netflix subscribers. The duo has several projects in the hopper, including a television series inspired by The Warriors, a third adaptation of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Michael B. Jordan, and more.