Well that was quick. Fresh off the smashing success of his horror thrillerA Quiet Place,John Krasinskihas solidified his next project—and it’s not aQuiet Placesequel.THRreports that Krasinski is reteaming with hisQuiet PlaceproducersMichael Bay,Brad Fuller, andAndrew Formon the sci-fi thrillerLife on Mars, which he intends to direct. Paramount Pictures, which distributed Krasinski’s horror film, is in negotiations to distributeLife on Marsas well, bringing this whole team back together.
Life on Marsis based on a short story byCecil CastelluccicalledWe Have Always Lived on Mars, which follows a woman who is one of the few descendants of a human colony on Mars that was abandoned by Earth. She is surprised to discover that she can breathe the Martian atmosphere, and while the crew takes this to mean their terraforming has finally paid off, this development actually unlocks the mystery of the disaster that stranded her and her team on the planet in the first place.
Krasinski apparently found the story and brought it to Platinum Dunes himself. Right now there are no plans for Krasinski to star and there’s no writer attached, but Krasinski’s pass on theQuiet Placescript was substantial and is a major reason the film turned out to be as emotional as it was, so if Krasinski decides to writeLife on Marshimself there would be no complaints from me.
TheOfficebreakout made his directorial debut on the 2005 indieBrief Interviews with Hideous Men, then helmed the sweet 2016 family dramedyThe Hollars, butA Quiet Placemarked a massively ambitious departure in terms of tone for the filmmaker, and it paid off tremendously. Given the film’s critical and commercial success many were curious to see what Krasinski would direct next—no doubt he’s been flooded with offers, and plenty of filmmakers a this stage make the jump to a superhero orStar Warsmovie. But I have to say it’s nice to see, for now at least, Krasinski is keen on sticking to relatively original material.
