Gina Rodriguez May Join Natalie Portman in ANNIHILATION
Gina Rodriguez, who stars as the titular character on CW’s romantic comedy/drama Jane the Virgin, is said to be in talks with Paramount Pictures about taking a role alongside Natalie Portman in Annihilation.
Annihilation will be directed by Alex Garland, who wrote Ex Machina, 28 Days Later.., and Dredd. Ex Machina was also his directorial debut,and was released in the summer of 2015. It is a psychological thriller about the relationship between man and robot and was well received by critics and science fiction fans.
Rodriguez received A Golden Globe award for “Best Actress in a Comedy”in 2015 for her role in Jane the Virgin. She is also known for her roles as Beverly in The Bold and the Beautiful, and Majo Tenorio in Filly Brown, a musical drama.
Variety reports that shooting will start in the spring of 2016 to accommodate Natalie Portman’s schedule, and that this will coincide with the hiatus for Rodriguez’s show.
Annihilation is based on a book of the same name, the first of a trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer called the Southern Reach Trilogy. The novel won the Shirley Jackson Award for best novel of 2014, and the Nebula Award for the same year. In the novel, a biologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor and a psychologist explore a mysterious place, named Area X, that is cut off from civilization. Many expeditions have gone before them, and have experienced mental trauma, suicide and strange cancers. One would wonder why they would enter an area that so many died in, or returned from to die shortly afterwards, but it is revealed that they were not told how many previous expeditions there had been. Also, the biologist’s husband was one of those who had gone before them and returned mysteriously only to die of cancer a few months later.
The protagonists of the story are not named in the book. If this is true in the movie, it may be confusing and cause some awkward dialogue. Alex Garland is adapting the book to a screenplay, so it will be interesting to see how he deals with that quirk. All of the team are female, so if Gina Rodriguez signs on they will need two more strong female actors for the other members of the expedition.
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