Amid the raging successes of Severance and Silo along with long-lived powerhouse For All Mankind and the franchise-spawning Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters, Apple TV+ read the room. As a result, sci-fi devotees (and those of survival thrillers, creature features, and high-concept B movies with added polish) will keep reaping the benefits.
Expect a buffet of new sci-fi shows on the horizon, including Neuromancer (starring Callum Turner as a console cowboy) and Murderbot (with Alexander Skarsgård as a homicidal yet vaguely rebellious bot), and the tech giant’s streaming service isn’t planning to ignore the movie department either. Hence The Gorge, a feature film that will not only include a sci-fi legend but will be scored by atmospheric wizards Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Let’s dive into what we can expect to hear (and see) in this movie.
Plot
Directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Doctor Strange, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose), The Gorge will revolve around twin operatives (Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy) who are assigned to guard a gorge that contains a mysterious threat, which (unless the above key art is a complete misdirect) sure seems monstrous. The world that they are protecting is a corrupt one, but these two are lethal weapons in and of themselves, a combination that suggests a twisty thrill ride of a story. From the film’s synopsis:
Two highly-trained operatives are appointed to posts in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from an undisclosed, mysterious evil that lurks within. They bond from a distance while trying to stay vigilant in defending against an unseen enemy. When the cataclysmic threat to humanity is revealed to them, they must work together in a test of both their physical and mental strength to keep the secret in the gorge before it’s too late.
The action-heavy thriller’s appeal will be bolstered by the masters of the postmodern film score, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. While speaking with GQ earlier this year, the pair alluded to “a kind of haunted, chanting murmur” that will pervade throughout The Gorge. Additionally, Ross divulged that Derrickson requested extra intensity (for a scene with “Teller and Taylor-Joy in an evil-looking spiky forest”) beyond the pair’s original vision:
They were working on a lengthy, music-dependent scene that they’d already mostly scored. But, Ross said,
the director wants it to be a bit more, I can’t think of a better word than just a bit more scary and intense.” They weren’t sure what that directive meant, exactly, but they were content-they were happy-to try to figure it out: to enter the room once again, carrying nothing, and to try to leave it with something that didn’t exist before.
The full article is a fascinating one with Reznor’s method for tackling scenes being to “improvise some music” before Atticus uses his “superpower” to make magic happen in context of a specific project. Reznor dryly remarked, “I can come up with a melody and a chord change, and he can make that sit on the scene in a way that is meticulous, and mind-numbingly boring to watch him do.” Can’t wait to hear it.
Cast
Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy will be accompanied by sci-fi queen Sigourney Weaver, who is accustomed to starring alongside nasty creatures.
Release Date
Apple TV+ hasn’t given this movie a precise release date beyond “2025.”
Trailer
Nope. Not yet. However, Reznor and Ross recently (ahead of Challengers) dissected their most iconic tracks, also in a GQ interview:
