Natalie Portman has been very picky with her roles since winning the Oscar for BLACK SWAN. With her Western JANE GOT A GUN hitting production trouble and her directorial debut A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS coming this year, Portman is being very careful about who she works with next. With director Alex Garland getting acclaim for the recently released EX MACHINA, it should be no surprise that Portman is interested in working with him.
Variety reports that Portman is circling Garland's ANNIHILATION, based on the science fiction novel by Jeff VanDerMeer.
The book describes a team of four (a biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor) who set out into an area known as Area X. The area is abandoned and cut off from the rest of civilization. They are the 12th expedition. The other expeditions have been fraught with disappearances, suicides, aggressive cancers, and mental trauma.
There are rumors that Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore may be interested in joining the film as well. With four main female roles, those three would make for one hell of a cast. I just recently started reading ANNIHILATION and I have to say it would make for one hell of a movie. With Garland's screenwriting credits including 28 DAYS LATER and SUNSHINE, he has the right voice to tell a story like this and EX MACHINA shows he has the visual prowess as well. Portman would be great in a dramatic scifi yarn that echoes movies like INTERSTELLAR. Here's hoping this one happens.
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