Director, Rupert Wyatt, has had an intriguing career so far. Beginning his filmmaking roots with well received British prison drama, The Escapist, he was handed the keys to the new franchise of prequels to the Planet Of The Apes films, but only ended up in the director’s chair for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes in 2011 before stepping away.
A forgettable remake of 1974’s The Gambler followed before he temporarily moved into TV to direct a few pilots, including The Exorcist. Until recently he seemed destined to fall off the map.
Back in August it was reported that he was heading back into the world of movies with news that he’d be directing sci-fi film, Captive State, but very little was known about it, until now. The official synopsis has emerged:
“Captive State is a sci-fi thriller set in a Chicago neighbourhood 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”.
Consider me intrigued. Sounding like a mix of District 9 and Snowden, this might be the opportunity Wyatt has been looking for to get his name back up in lights.
Arrival was recently a huge critical and financial success, hopefully proving to studios that there isn’t only a universal clamour for more superhero movies and remakes, and that audiences not only want originality, but originality that challenges them that in ways perhaps other major franchises fail to do.
The film certainly sounds ambitious, and tackling heavy themes like mass surveillance that currently threaten the real world can sometimes backfire with a far too on-the-nose tone, but Wyatt is taking the chance that the films’ commentary captures the contemporary zeitgeist, rather than destined to become a prescient look at our future world.
Captive State will star John Goodman and Ashton Sanders, with a release date as yet unconfirmed.
#Peace.Love.CaptiveState
