Sandra Bullock is the latest A-lister to team up with Netflix. The Hollywood Reporter writes that the “Gravity” star has signed on to topline “Birdbox,” a post-apocalyptic thriller helmed by Oscar winner Susanne Bier and penned by Eric Heisserer (“Arrival”). The film is based on Josh Malerman’s 2014 novel of the same name.
Set in the near future, “Birdbox” sees Bullock playing a mother of two “among a small group of survivors after a mysterious alien force has driven the world’s population to deadly violence,” THR summarizes. “The three must make their way on a terrifying journey — 20 miles in a rowboat — while blindfolded, with nothing to rely on but the mother’s wits and the children’s trained ears.”
Netflix film chief Scott Stuber will produce the pic, which is likely to start production in August.
Bier’s “In a Better World” took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011. She won an Emmy last year for directing AMC spy thriller “The Night Manager.”
“Television is a popular art form that is truly global. There’s less space for the conventional, predictable assumptions of film production that dictate that, as a female director, I can only do romantic dramas and comedies,” Bier has said. She emphasized that TV is “is not a feminist utopia” and “the entire entertainment industry has much work to do to reflect the diversity of its audience. There’s still something threatening about a female vision when it strays beyond the ‘woman’s picture.’ The industry is in desperate need of new perspectives,” she stressed.
“Birdbox” marks Bullock’s first time starring in a woman-directed film since Anne Fletcher’s 2009 rom-com “The Proposal,” which the “Miss Congeniality” actress also produced. Bullock received an Oscar in 2010 for “The Blind Side.” She’ll next be seen in “Ocean’s Eight” alongside Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, and Awkwafina. The heist thriller is set to bow June 8, 2018.
