The next feature fromEx Machinawriter/directorAlex Garlandis shaping up to be a real doozy. We learned earlier this year that theSunshineand28 Days Laterscribewas tackling an adaptationofJeff VanderMeer’s brilliantly terrifying enviro-horror novelAnnihilationfor his second directorial effort, withNatalie Portmanstarring to boot. Now Garland is beginning to fill out his cast, and the second actress in what is an all-female ensemble is a swell addition.
PerThe Wrap,Jane the VirginstarGina Rodriguezis in negotiations to co-star opposite Portman inAnnihilation. The story follows the expedition of four women who are sent into the mysterious “Area X”, a portion of land in the United States that has been secretly quarantined due to abnormal activity. They are the twelfth expedition sent into Area X on behalf of the mysterious Southern Reach organization. The second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third in a hail of gunfire as the members turned on one another, and the eleventh expedition returned as shells of their former selves, all dying of cancer shortly after coming back. Portman plays the principal character, a biologist, but it’s unclear which role Rodriguez is eyeing.
If that wasn’t enough, The Wrap adds thatFrances McDormandis in the running for one of the other leads, most likely the psychologist (all of the characters are nameless and are only referred to by their professions).Annihilationis the first in a trilogy of books by VanderMeer (known as “The Southern Reach Trilogy”), but it’s a unique series in that each book feels entirely different from the others, and in fact each follows a different set of characters—although there is some overlap that brings it all together in the end.
Filming is set to begin in the spring, during Rodriguez’sJane the Virginhiatus. She was recentlyup for a lead role inStar Wars: Episode VIII, butAnnihilationis no slouch in comparison. The actress just wrapped the female lead in the disaster dramaDeepwater HorizonoppositeMark Wahlberg.
