Karen Gillan, star of Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Who, has boarded James Ponsoldt’s upcoming adaptation The Circle, joining the likes of John Boyega, Emma Watson and Hollywood legend Tom Hanks for the tech-savvy drama.
Deadline has the scoop, stating that the star-studded quartet will be portraying characters from Dave Eggers’ satirical novel of the same name. Centering on a Google-esque Internet giant, the story is anchored by Watson’s Mae Holland, a wide-eyed newcomer to the tech juggernaut who joins the ranks as a newbie, sifting through the burgeoning archives of personal data and such that serve as the company’s lifeblood. In a post-Snowden landscape, Eggers’ source material is ripe for the picking when it comes to themes of information control and democracy.
As for Gillain’s role within the ensemble, Deadline states that the actress will step into the part of Annie, “a warm, cute, goofy, old-money confident and fiercely intelligent member of The Circle.” Boyega, meanwhile, is the archetypal “boy wonder” spearheading the titular organization forward, while Tom Hanks’ role is much more mysterious, with nary a mention of his character or his own personal motivations.
Filming is yet to begin on James Ponsoldt’s The Circle, considering it had to juggle the busy schedules of its leading cast. Chief among those is John Boyega’s role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, though now that work on J.J. Abrams’ sequel is beginning to wind down, don’t be too surprised if Ponsoldt’s contemporary drama eases into production sooner rather than later.
When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency.
