Director David Zellner has credits going back to 1997, when he made his feature directorial debut with the comedy Plastic Utopia, working from a screenplay he wrote with his brother, visual effects artist Nathan Zellner. As of the 2018 Western Damsel, the Zellner Brothers became a directing duo, and in 2020 it was announced that they were going to be making an alien invasion comedy called Alpha Gang, with Andrea Riseborough, Jon Hamm, Nicholas Hoult, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mackenzie Davis, Sofia Boutella, and Steven Yeun attached to star in the film. But Alpha Gang missed its 2021 production start date and the Zellner Brothers made Sasquatch Sunset instead. Nine months ago, it was announced that the Zellners were circling back to Alpha Gang, and the impressive cast they originally had lined up was replaced by a different impressive bunch of actors: Cate Blanchett (Disclaimer), Dave Bautista (Knock at the Cabin), Léa Seydoux (No Time to Die), and Riley Keough (Daisy Jones & The Six). Now, with Alpha Gang in production and expected to wrap up in a few days, Deadline has revealed that Chris Pine (Star Trek), Lily-Rose Depp (Nosferatu), Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Mufasa: The Lion King), and Doona Bae (Rebel Moon) are also in the mix.
The Blanchett and co. cast announcement had also included Channing Tatum, Zoë Kravitz, and Steven Yeun, but they had to drop out of the cast before production began. “Sources attributed it to a combination of factors like scheduling and financing that are constantly in flux for a great many indie film packages.”
Here’s the synopsis: They look and sound human, but Alpha Gang are aliens, sent on a mission to conquer Earth. Armed and dangerous, they show no mercy, until they catch the most toxic, contagious human disease of all: emotion. Their plan for world domination is in danger of derailing once they start to feel joy, fear, empathy, and – worst of all – love… But hopefully they can still annihilate mankind before it’s too late. A different synopsis adds in the information that the titular Alpha Gang is disguised in human form as a 1950s leather-clad biker gang.
The Zellner brothers are producing for ZBi, along with Blanchett and Coco Francini for Dirty Films, Keough and Gina Gammell for Felix Culpa, Ryan Zacarias for Fat City, Andrea Bucko for Sugar Rush Pictures, Mary Aloe for Aloe Entertainment, and Joshua Harris for Peachtree Media Partners.
Are you interested in Alpha Gang? What do you think of Chris Pine, Lily-Rose Depp, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Doona Bae joining the cast (and Channing Tatum, Zoë Kravitz, and Steven Yeun falling out)? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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