Vancouver is currently playing host to Nacho Vigalondo’s (Timecrimes, Open Windows, Extraterrestrial) atypical monster movie Colossal, which has Anne Hathaway in the driver’s seat as a young woman caught in the crossfire when a towering, mysterious creature lays siege to Seoul, South Korea.
It’s still early days on Vigalondo’s creature feature, though Variety brings word that Downton Abbey and The Guest alum Dan Stevens has boarded the project. Billed as a cinematic concoction that blends the emotional beats of Lost in Translation with the show-stopping, city-levelling spectacle of Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla reboot, it’s a premise that is brimming with dramatic potential.
Upon losing her job and boyfriend in New York City, Hathaway’s protagonist returns to her home town to embark on some soul-searching. Out of luck and out of love, her life is unceremoniously upended once more when a giant monster washes up on Seoul’s shores, but amidst the chaos she finds that she harbors a deep and peculiar connection to the towering behemoth, setting in motion the events that underpin Colossal.
Penned by Vigalondo himself, we’re intrigued by the core concept fuelling his latest – and possibly greatest? – feature film. The safe best would be to assume the troubled emotional state of Hathaway’s lead birthed the abominable creature in the first place, placing her in control of the fate of the city’s population. It’s merely conjecture, of course, but the fact that the director-cum-screenwriter is taking strides to underpin the blockbuster action with an emotional story is music to our ears, as it’s the very tenet that eluded the likes of Godzilla, Pacific Rim and their contemporaries.
There’s no word yet of a release date or even window for Nacho Vigalondo’s creature feature, but we’ll keep you updated on the status of Colossal as it lumbers further into production.