Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer have signed on to star in a new science fiction picture called ‘Invasion’ from BAFTA Award-winning director Michael Pearce. Pearce co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Barton. It is hoped that ‘Invasion’ will start filming in the US this year. Amazon Studios has secured worldwide rights.
Ahmed will play a “decorated Marine” and father of two boys, who goes on the run with his sons in order to protect them from an inhuman threat. “As the journey takes them in increasingly dangerous and unexpected directions, the boys will need to confront hard truths and leave their childhood behind.” (via Deadline)
Pearce and producer Lauren Dark won the Outstanding Debut BAFTA for his 2017 picture ‘Beast’. His ‘Invasion’ co-writer, Joe Barton most recently created the Japanese/English series ‘Giri/Haji’ for BBC Two. It is distributed by Netflix globally. He previously wrote episodes of ‘Freak’ and AMC’s ‘Humans’.
Ahmed and Spencer are no strangers to sci-fi. Ahmed, of course, portrayed Bodhi Rook in ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’, and the villain Carlton Drake/Riot in ‘Venom’. More recently, he co-starred on the Netflix series ‘The OA’. His voice can be heard in the video game ‘Assassin’s Creed: Gold’. His two most recent movies were ‘The Sound of Metal’ and ‘Mogul Mowgli’. He is attached to star as Hamlet in a new film version of the Shakespeare classic, and in another sci-fi pic, ‘Exit West’.
Spencer co-starred in the film version of ‘Snowpiercer’, the ‘Divergent Series’, the fantasy ‘The Shack’, and co-headlined the science-fact movie ‘Hidden Figures’. She is an Oscar winner for her role as Minnie Jackson in 2011’s ‘The Help’, and was just announced as an Emmy nominee for her leading role in the Netflix miniseries ‘Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker’. She will next appear in ‘The Witches’ with Anne Hathaway, based on the Roald Dahl book, as well as a Netflix superhero movie ‘Thunder Force’ with Melissa McCarthy, and the comedy ‘The Heart’.
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