Rebecca Thomas will be taking the reins on another sci-fi film. The “Stranger Things” director — who signed on for the sci-fi action-thriller “Malignant” earlier this month — will helm Amblin Entertainment’s “Intelligent Life.” The Hollywood Reporter broke the story.
Originally written by “Jurassic World” scribes Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, “Intelligent Life” follows a UN worker who manages to communicate with a woman — who is possibly an alien — as he surveils outer space. Jay Roach (“Game Change”) was hired last year to touch up Trevorrow and Connolly’s script, and Thomas will also reportedly be contributing some re-writes.
“Rebecca beautifully captured the alienation we often feel amongst our fellow humans in her first feature [‘Electrick Children’],” Trevorrow and producer Frank Marshall said in a statement. “We can’t wait to see her explore those themes further in a story about our place in the universe.”
Ava DuVernay was originally in talks to direct Lupita Nyong’o in “Intelligent Life.” Neither woman is still attached to the project.
Based on the Boom! Studios comic “Malignant Man” and written by Zak Olkewicz, Thomas’ “Malignant” will center on a terminally ill patient who is tasked with fighting a secret army after finding out his tumor is actually an alien parasite.
Thomas has a number of high-profile films in the works, including a live-action telling of “The Little Mermaid” starring Chloe Grace Moretz (“If I Stay”), and an adaptation of beloved John Green YA novel “Looking for Alaska.” In March she signed on to bring Cheryl Della Pietra’s semi-autobiographical novel “Gonzo Girl” to the big screen.
She made her feature debut with 2012’s “Electrick Children,” a drama about a Mormon teen who thinks she was impregnated by listening to music. Shorts “Ivan Sings” and “Las Vegas, West,” and an episode of Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s “Sweet/Vicious” are among her other credits.
