Kate Mara Boards Sci-Fi Thriller ‘The Astronaut’ – TIFF – Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Primetime Emmy nominee Kate Mara has joined Laurence Fishburne in the sci-fi thriller, The Astronaut. Terminator: Dark Fate actor Gabriel Luna has also joined the cast.

Jess Varley (Phobias) makes her solo writing and directorial debut.    

Cameras are set to roll this October in Ireland under an interim SAG-AFTRA agreement.

The Astronaut is produced by Fuller Media’s Brad Fuller (Paramount’s A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II, Universal’s The Purge films) and Cameron Fuller, alongside Wonder Company’s Eric B. Fleischman (J.D. Dillard’s Sleight) and Chris Abernathy (Barbarian).

Highland Film Group is repping foreign rights to the pic here at TIFF. CAA Media Finance and the UTA Independent Film Group are co-repping domestic rights. 

In the pic, astronaut Sam Walker (Mara) returns from her first space mission. She’s found miraculously alive in a punctured capsule floating deep off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Expecting to be reunited with her husband (Luna), she finds herself placed under intense NASA surveillance in a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing under the control of General William Harris (Fishburne). However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.

“We are so pleased that Kate Mara and Gabriel Luna have joined with Laurence Fishburne to bring Jess Varley’s script to life,” said Highland Film Group CEO Arianne Fraser. “We are delighted to be collaborating with this team of producers led by Brad Fuller to bring this haunting sci-fi experience to global audiences,” added Highland COO Delphine Perrier.

Mara recently starred in an episode of Black Mirror. She was Emmy nominated in the Guest Actress Drama category back in 2014 for her turn in Netflix’s House of Cards. Her feature credits include The Martian, Call Jane, 127 Hours, Random Hearts, and Chappaquiddick. Her TV credits include FX’s American Horror Story and the miniseries, A Teacher.

Mara is repped by CAA, Mosaic, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Luna is represented by UTA, 360 and Ziffren Brittenham; Fishburne is repped CAA, Landmark Artists Management, and Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang; Varley is repped by Entertainment360 and Weintraub Tobin.

Highland Film Group’s current sales slate counts William Eubank’s action thriller Land of Bad starring Russell Crowe, Liam Hemsworth and Luke Hemsworth; Joe Carnahan’s survival thriller Not Without Hope starring Zachary Levi and Josh Duhamel; Simon West’s action comedy Old Guy starring Christoph Waltz, Lucy Liu and Cooper Hoffman; Dimitri Logothetis’ actioner Gunner starring Morgan Freeman and Luke Hemsworth; Adam Cooper’s crime thriller Sleeping Dogs starring Russell Crowe and Karen Gillan; the survival thriller The Ridge starring Billy Magnussen; the high-concept horror film Rosario starring Emeraude Toubia; Benjamin Brewer’s survival action-thriller Arcadian starring Nicolas Cage; Rod Blackhurst’s Blood For Dust starring Scoot McNairy, Kit Harington and Josh Lucas; John Stalberg Jr.’s Muzzle starring Aaron Eckhart; the sci-fi thriller 57 Seconds starring Morgan Freeman and Josh Hutcherson.