Blade Runner 2, now known simply as Blade Runner 2049, is far and away the biggest project currently lining Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming slate. But there’s another, much smaller sci-fi pic in the works from the esteemed director, and it’s now little under a month away from descending into theaters.
It’s called Arrival, a stark, thought-provoking science fiction film that imagines a scenario in which a series of ominous and very alien space vessels have entered our atmosphere at various points across the globe. Without any forewarning, their mere presence is enough to send humanity into a frenzied panic, as the governments of the world pull together to conjure up some form of response once tensions begin to escalate. Before any nukes are unleashed, though, the Powers That Be draft in Louise Banks (Amy Adams), an expert linguist who attempts to cross over into one of the many extra-terrestrial ships in a bid to make first contact.
That’s a process we see unfold in today’s fresh batch of stills for Arrival, showcasing Banks equipped with tools for the Rorschach test – a psychological test involving those trippy inkblots – amid behind-the-scenes shots of Villeneuve and Adams prepping for a scene.
More than anything, the stills are a pointed reminder of the movie’s striking aesthetic, and we can hardly wait to see it light up the silver screen next month.
Arrival docks in theaters on November 11, and Jeremy Renner, Rogue One‘s Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tzi Ma and Mark O’Brien round out the core cast. Our very own Matt Donato enjoyed the intellectual aspects of Villeneuve’s feature, even if he did harbor some criticisms coming out of its worldwide premiere at TIFF 2016.
