Writer-Director Jay Roach Discovers Intelligent Life At Amblin

Passengers, the Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence-fronted space flick, may be all the rage ahead of its theatrical release in December – it’s tracking for a strong opening thanks to the pair’s combined star power – but there are plenty of other in-development sci-fi projects worth getting excited about.

There’s Julius Onah’s God Particle, for instance, The Something and even the promising Life starring Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson. Be that as it may, our latest story today concerns Intelligent Life, the science fiction/romance brewing over at Amblin Entertainment.

Initially packaged as a directing vehicle for Ava DuVernay before the Oscar-nominated filmmaker made for the exit door, taking Star Wars: The Force Awakens alum Lupita Nyong’o along with her, Variety is reporting that writer-director Jay Roach has been welcomed aboard to rewrite Intelligent Life – a gig that may involve Roach taking point at the helm himself.

Based on an original concept hatched by Jurassic World dream team Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, Amblin’s picture revolves around a United Nation employee who comes into contact with an impossibly attractive woman while serving a routine mission in space. The question then is whether said stranger is actually an extra-terrestrial masking as a human, potentially thrusting his spacewalk into jeopardy. At the moment, Roach has only committed to fine-tuning Trevorrow and Connolly’s initial pitch, but the Powers That Be at Amblin – Frank Marshall, and Peter Saraf are producing – are said to be courting the writer-director to assume a larger role in the production.

We’ll be keeping tabs on this as Jay Roach’s search for Intelligent Life intensifies, so be sure to stay tuned for more.