Any science fiction fan worth their salt will tell you that Ridley Scott, director of such classics as Alien and Blade Runner, is right up there with the most important filmmakers in sci-fi history, expanding the genre in new and perplexing directions.
Imagine our excitement, then, when we heard that Scott’s son Luke is poised to make his own directorial debut later this year with Morgan, a thought-provoking and genuinely creepy sci-fi thriller that involves shady human experiments, scientists playing God and, in true genre fashion, artificial intelligence gone rogue.
In this instance, that title role will be played by Anya Taylor-Joy of The Witch fame. Created in a remote, high-tech lab, Morgan represents the biggest breakthrough in artificial intelligence in years, and is enough to keep Swedish philosopher and author Nick Bostrom up at night. 20th Century Fox is handling distribution while Ridley Scott is attached in a producing role.
House of Cards and Fantastic Four alum Kate Mara toplines the drama as a “corporate troubleshooter is sent to a remote, top-secret location, where she is to investigate and evaluate a terrifying accident. She learns the event was triggered by a seemingly innocent “human,” who presents a mystery of both infinite promise and incalculable danger.” Rose Leslie, Paul Giamatti, Toby Jones and Boyd Holbrook round out the casting docket.
Morgan is penciled in for theatrical release on September 2. But can Luke Scott’s directorial debut achieve a similar success to Alex Garland’s Ex Machina? Time will tell.
