Over the course of 2015, James Ponsoldt’s feature adaptation of Dave Eggers’ novel The Circle has been quietly building its ensemble cast piece by piece. And now, after enlisting Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, Ex Machina breakout Alicia Vikander, The Force Awakens‘ John Boyega and, more recently, Karen Gillian, the cameras are rolling in Fillmore, California.
And while the upcoming drama isn’t of the same calibre as something like Star Wars, that doesn’t necessarily rule out the possibility of set photos finding their way online, with today’s maiden batch spotlighting Watson’s character, Mae Holland.
On board to play the new recruit to the titular, Google-like Internet giant, Mae Holland joins the company as a wide-eyed employee bursting with enthusiasm. But as she finds her feet, questions of online identity, security and privacy soon rise to the fore thick and fast. What happens to societal rules when online giants are curating and monetizing personal data?
Yes, the digital age is riddled with hard-pressing questions that we face each and every day, and Ponsoldt will be hoping to tap into that underlying cultural fear with his latest feature, as The Circle shifts from a by-the-numbers drama to a contemporary thriller.
Production is currently underway on James Ponsoldt’s big-screen rendition of The Circle, having set up shop at Fillmore, California. It’s still unclear when the studio is planning to debut the contemporary tale, though we can surely expect to learn more before the year’s end.
When Mae Holland is hired to work for 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.
