It’s coming up on two years since Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar toyed with the concept of relativity – and our heartstrings – on the big screen, as Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper surfaced from Miller’s planet only to realize the devastating effect of time dilation.
A fundamental strand in the theory of relativity, it’s also a premise that will underpin Passengers, Morten Tyldum’s hotly-anticipated sci-fi film that has tapped two of arguably the biggest movie stars in Hollywood today: Chris Pratt and The Hunger Games alum Jennifer Lawrence.
Bound for a far-flung colony planet by the name of Homestead II, Pratt and Lawrence play two interstellar voyagers who are crudely jolted out of cryogenic sleep ahead of schedule – 90 long, long years ahead of schedule, to be precise. Facing loneliness and the terrifying prospect of growing old in space, Passengers then chronicles the story of our two stranded explorers as they scramble for a means to survive.
Prometheus scribe Jon Spaihts is the brains behind the script, with director Tyldum recently teasing a love story for a new generation.
“It’s one of those stories that really grabs you and you fall in love with it. It’s very smart and funny and clever and such a page turner I couldn’t put it down. Every 10 pages, something new happens! At the same time it’s a very intimate movie while taking place on this epic scale. For me, it’s a story about what’s important to live a full life. What are the things we need as humans? It’s not afraid to entertain but at the same time it asks big questions about what does it mean to really feel happy. Every generation has its love story. I feel like this is it. I had to do it.”
Passengers will lift off on December 21. Its destination? The Oscar race. Aurora Perrineau, Michael Sheen and Laurence Fishburne round out Tyldum’s ensemble.
