Hollywood’s movie industry tends to run at such a brisk clip that even a short hiatus can feel like a lifetime – just ask Rupert Wyatt. After executing his big break through 20th Century Fox’s franchise-starter Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Wyatt quietly took a step back from the blockbuster scene, favoring character-driven drama in the vein of The Gambler over high-octane action.
One dalliance in the realm of television later (see: The Exorcist) and the writer-director is now prepping his latest creative venture. It’s called Captive State, a futuristic sci-fi thriller set in the Windy City. Ashton Sanders and 10 Cloverfield Lane‘s John Goodman have already signed on, and Deadline now reports that Rupert Wyatt’s original pic has filled out its cast with Vera Farmiga, Jonathan Majors and rapper Colson Baker (AKA Machine Gun Kelly).
Filming is due to commence next month ahead of an expected release next year, and we understand that Wyatt dreamed up the concept for Captive State with co-writer Erica Beeney. Mixing themes of xenophobia and mass surveillance and grounding them in a near-future setting, Wyatt and Beeney’s pic has the potential to challenge audiences like all great science fiction – that is, presenting a mirror of society that quietly pokes and prods at the zeitgeist.
Here’s the synopsis:
“Captive State is a sci-fi thriller set in a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after it has been occupied by an extraterrestrial force. Captive State uses a grounded sci-fi setting to shine light on the modern surveillance state and the threats to civil liberties and the role of dissent within an authoritarian society.”
Rupert Wyatt’s Captive State is tentatively slated for release in 2018.
