While Disney and Comcast engage in a bidding war over 20th Century Fox, the studio is keeping busy putting projects together, including a "thriller with a sci-fi edge" called ECHO, which George Clooney is currently in talks to direct.
Deadline cautions that Clooney and Fox are only just getting their conversation started, but their sources are optimistic that a deal will be made. The project's script was written by Christopher MacBride and tells the story of
a drone specialist with a psychological crisis: is he paranoid in suspecting his lover is not who she appears to be, and could she possibly have been replaced?
That brief description reminds me a bit of the 2002 film SOLARIS (pictured above), which Clooney starred in for director Steven Soderbergh. He had to deal with replica issues in that movie, too.
Whether Clooney officially signs on to direct ECHO or not, the project is being produced by Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, and Dan Cohen of 21 Laps Entertainment, the company behind ARRIVAL and Stranger Things.
We'll keep you updated on ECHO as it continues to move forward.