Hell hath no fury like an android scorned in Vice, a low-budgeted sci-fi thriller from Lone Survivor producer Emmet/Furla/Oasis Films. In the film’s quasi-utopian future, people are encouraged to carry out their most vicious and sadistic desires within the confines of luxurious resorts, where they are supplied with as many humanlike androids to brutalize in however many ways they see fit.
Yesterday, it was announced that action icon Bruce Willis will star in the film alongside Ambyr Childers, an actress known for prominent roles in Paul Thomas Anderson’s acclaimed drama The Master, Showtime’s Ray Donovan and the spine-tingling horror flick We Are What We Are. Willis is set to portray Julian, the sadistic owner of the Vice resort, while Childers will play an android who becomes self-aware and, horrified at the travesties being committed inside the resort, escapes and returns with a plot to bring it all crumbling to the ground.
It’s not the most original storyline, with shades of movies including the Michael Crichton-directed Westworld, the truly awful Gamer and another Willis starrer, 2009’s Surrogates, but it should be interesting to watch Willis and Childers, both talented actors, face off in a future setting.
Of course, we’d best temper our expectations, considering the film’s small $15 million budget and the fact that Jeremy Passmore, the scribe behind 2012’s lackluster Red Dawn retread, co-wrote the screenplay. That said, Willis previously worked from a script by Passmore and writing partner Andre Fabrizio, who also co-wrote Vice, on a gangster movie called The Prince, due out this year, so the star evidently sees something in the duo.
Especially with Vice‘s below-average budget, it’s not hard to compare the movie to The Purge, a $3 million joint with a few recognizable stars (Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey) that focused on a future in which people are encouraged to let their most violent desires run rampant. Given the fact that The Purge grossed over $89 million at the box office, and the amounts of similarities in Vice‘s set-up, it’s not hard to see that Emmet/Furla/Oasis Films are hoping for a similar breakout. And with a recognizable star like Willis, and a stunning lead actress like Childers, Vice‘s prospects are looking quite rosy.
Vice is currently is search of a director and additional stars, but that search should be over relatively quickly, considering that the film is set to roll cameras in Alabama on March 15 this year. Grindstone/Lionsgate Films are already set to distribute.
Tell us, what’s your take on Vice? Will its two stars be enough to draw you in, or does the movie look too familiar to appeal? Let us know what you think below.
Published: Jan 22, 2014 04:58 pm