It took 11 years, but Natalie Portman is finally ready to star in another science-fiction movie. Being in the Star Wars prequels, particularly Attack of the Clones, is enough to make a person swear off the genre for good, but Portman has agreed to appear in an adaptation of Annihilation, the first book in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy. But she’s got a sci-fi support group–Jane the Virgin‘s Gina Rodriguez and Tessa Thompson, who played Bianca in Creed.
They’ll need to hold her like Anakin did by the lake on Naboo:
Scott Rudin is producing the adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel, which follows a group of women who take on a dangerous mission where the laws of nature don’t apply. The group consists of an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist who serves as the group’s de facto leader; and a biologist, who serves as the narrator. (Via)
The film will be directed by Alex Garland, who proved that he’s adept at telling morally complex stories about women (or women robots) with the fantastic Ex Machina. In that sense, he’s the opposite of George Lucas, which is good news for Portman. She has PTSD from the scene in Clones where that giant lizard thing conveniently ripped her shirt so that just her midriff was showing.
Should Garland ask Portman to do that again, Gina Rodriguez will bonk him on the head with her Golden Globe.
(Via the Wrap)
