Before he made himself known with his script for Prometheus, screenwriter Jon Spaihts earned himself a spot on the 2007 Black List with his script for a film called Passengers. The writer was hired by Keanu Reeves to pen the project as a starring vehicle for the actor. Originally, Gabriele Muccino signed on to direct but that didn’t work out and the project went quiet for a while. Spaihts went on to write the first draft of Prometheus and Passengers faded away, until now.
Today, Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones) has come on board to direct the sci-fi flick, which Reeves is still starring in. The story will center on a “passenger on a spaceship making a centuries-long journey to another planet, who is woken up, accidentally and irreversibly, by a computer glitch, 90 years too early. Faced with the prospect of living the rest of his life, and dying, alone on the ship, he decides to wake up a beautiful fellow passenger.”
It sounds pretty interesting and the fact that Reeves has stuck around for so long no doubt means that he has faith in the project. The actor knows the sci-fi genre well, having starred in The Matrix trilogy and we fully trust his judgement when it comes to knowing what will work and what won’t. Then again, he has made some pretty poor career choices in recent years so maybe his judgement has become a bit misguided?
Still, Spaihts is a talented writer and Kirk has done some good work for HBO, which has gained him recognition in Hollywood (Marvel considered him for Thor: The Dark World).
So, all things considered, Passengers stands a chance at being a decent sci-fi flick, one that may make Reeves a household name again. Let’s face it, he’s definitely lost some of his fame and exposure since starring in the Wachowski’s groundbreaking trilogy, hasn’t he?
What do you think of the project so far? Excited to hear more? Let us know.