Not too long ago, Rick Yancey’s very popular novel, The 5th Wave, gained a director in J Blakeson. Now, The Wrap is reporting that the film has found its star, as Chloe Moretz has signed on for the lead role.
Produced by Graham King’s GK Films and Tobey Maguire’s Material Pictures, The 5th Wave boasts a script from Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich) and will have the young actress playing Cassie Sullivan, a 16-year-old girl who “survives four waves of deadly attacks against the Earth’s population. On the run to save her younger brother, Cassie meets a mysterious young man who may become her final hope.”
While I’m usually quite pessimistic about YA adaptations, this one does sound promising. Though I haven’t read the novel that it’s based on myself, I have heard very good things about it. Furthermore, Moretz is one of Hollywood’s hottest young talents at the moment and Grant is an Oscar nominated scribe. The only question mark here is Blakeson, who only has one film under his belt, the mediocre thriller The Disappearance of Alice Creed. While it showed promise and was definitely enjoyable, I ultimately found the director’s feature-length debut to be a bit underdeveloped in areas and thus, not completely satisfying.
Still, I’m excited about The 5th Wave as I’ve been curious about the novel ever since first hearing about it. With Moretz now set in the lead role, I’m hopeful that they can do something interesting with this one, instead of just turning it into another bland YA adaptation.