‘True Love’: Gareth Edwards’ New Sci-fi Movie Adds Benedict Wong, Danny McBride, and Gemma Chan

If you’re going to make a sci-fi movie, it probably can’t hurt to get a cast that’s intimately familiar with the genre. Director Gareth Edwards apparently agrees, as Deadline reports that the latest to join his next production titled True Love include a trio of sci-fi veterans headlined by Danny McBride, Gemma Chan, and Benedict Wong. The newcomers will be joining previously-announced John David-Washington, ostensibly playing the lead of the True Love cast after navigating temporal pincer movements in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet.

Of course, all three established actors have plenty of genre experience between them. McBride memorably played against type as he fought to avoid becoming Alien chow in Ridley Scott’s divisive Alien: Covenant. Chan will be seen in Chloé Zhao’s upcoming Eternals, after notably double-dipping in 2019’s Captain Marvel as an entirely different character altogether. And most recently, Wong added to his impressive résumé as the fan-favorite Wong in the upcoming Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, a voice performance role in Raya and the Last Dragon, and an understated turn in Alex Garland’s masterful Annihilation.

Described only as an original sci-fi story set in the near-future, True Love will mark Edwards’ first directorial effort after stepping foot into the Star Wars universe with 2016’s largely successful Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. According to Deadline, Edwards only committed to this project last year after carefully weighing his options.

So Where as Gareth Edwards Been, Anyway?

After breaking into the industry with his low-budget indie Monsters, an impressively tense (and appropriately-titled) small-scale sci-fi thriller that was nonetheless full of grand visual effects shots, Edwards parlayed his success into 2014’s sneakily underrated Godzilla, effectively kicking off Legendary’s “MonsterVerse” with a bang that allowed it to recently reach a crescendo with Godzilla vs Kong. Next up was the highly-publicized Rogue One, which went on to become a box office breakout in spite of the turbulent reports of behind-the-scenes issues.

However, initial reports hinted that essentially having the film taken away from him in the edit had an adverse effect on Edwards’ skyrocketing career. Many a film fan has shuddered at the phrase “Director’s jail,” a term used for filmmakers who have found themselves branded as undesirable commodities within the industry after an infamous flop or two. Thankfully, Deadline clarifies that Edwards simply had been developing his pick of stories that he’d been developing in the interim.

As a fan of his first two efforts and at least his apparent intentions for shaking up Star Wars in a big way with the boots-on-the-ground perspective of Rogue One, I couldn’t be more curious about how this next stage of Edwards’ career will unfold.

The post ‘True Love’: Gareth Edwards’ New Sci-fi Movie Adds Benedict Wong, Danny McBride, and Gemma Chan appeared first on /Film.

from /Film https://ift.tt/3x2saPp