David Twohy to get romantic in sci-fi drama Ice Moon Rising

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

David Twohy has been a genre presence for as long as I can remember. He is best known for the Vin Diesel-starring RIDDICK trilogy, starting with PITCH BLACK back in 2000, though he also helmed the Darren Aronofsky-penned BELOW in 2002. However, he's been a screenwriter since long before his directorial career blossomed, providing scripts for CRITTERS 2, WARLOCK, and – crazily enough – THE FUGITIVE.

There's always been a sci-fi element in his work, even the straight horror projects, but his genre-bending will be reaching a peak with his next film: ICE MOON RISING. A co-production with China, ICE MOON RISING will be a romantic sci-fi drama tangled in government bureaucracy.

Here's the plot:

The story centers on a mission to Europa, a moon of Jupiter that is covered in ice and may have an ocean underneath that could support life. Astronauts on a U.S. mission to the Jovian moon encounter an alien life form, and a male astronaut is infected with an untreatable ailment.

His wife and fellow crewmate promises to go back to Earth and retrieve a remedy, vowing to return within three years. She leaves her mate in a state of suspended animation. But bureaucratic issues and other problems delay her return for 24 years.

When she finally comes back, on a China-backed mission, the couple must sort out a variety of issues stemming from their long separation — namely that she’s given birth to their daughter and started a new relationship in the intervening quarter of a century.

This sounds like a fascinating cross between INTERSTELLAR and Orson Scott Card’s later books in the Ender series, and if anybody can do it, Twohy can.

The lead character will be a Chinese-born American, and the film itself is being designed in a “very real and not overly futuristic" manner by ex-NASA scientists. Producers are looking to start production later this year.

More on this story as it breaks!