Earlier this year, Aussie filmmaker Jennifer Kent (“The Babadook,” “The Nightingale”) revealed on the comedy film podcast “Blank Check” that her next movie would be a sci-fi project, and now we have more information on it, including the title, “The Girl Who Was Plugged In.”
Not only that, but Kent has cast actress Sophie Thatcher (“Yellowjackets,” “Companion”) to play dual roles in the pic that is heading to the Cannes Film Market, according to the reporting from Deadline. The pic is based on the James Tiptree Jr. (a pseudonym used by Alice B Sheldon) novella published in 1973, as the surreal dystopian tale centers around a young woman “who loses her soul to technology in an effort to be loved.”
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In the dark sci-fi story, Thatcher plays a “disfigured, suicidal young protagonist, P Burke, who is hired by a mega tech corporation to virtually operate a beautiful but brainless ‘flesh body’ called Delphi, grown in a lab with the sole purpose of influencing the masses and selling products. As Delphi’s star rises, P Burke becomes enthralled by her and descends into a tech psychosis with disastrous consequences.”
A producing team assembled includes Kent, Cody Greenwood (Rush Films), Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, and Fred Berger for Range Media Partners, Brandon Millan and Sam Wasson for Felix Farmer Productions, and Hualien Media International. Along with exec producers Terris Ko and Dani Sommerhauser for Range.
“I have never felt a more urgent need to make a film as much as I have with ‘The Girl Who Was Plugged In.’ Even though the original story was published over 50 years ago, its themes are now landing with a searing relevance, as if it was just written,” Kent said in an official statement.
We cannot wait to learn what Thatcher’s supporting cast will look like for “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” and the vision for the production design/look for this sci-fi world. Overseeing those sales at Cannes will be Goodfellas, launching international sales with CAA Media Finance and Range Select co-repping U.S. rights.
Other high-profile genre movies on the horizon for Thatcher include the Nicolas Winding Refn-directed slasher flick “Her Private Hell” (debuting this month at the Cannes Film Festival and coming out in July) and a lead role in Christopher Andrews‘ 17th-century witch-hunter thriller “Cavendish.”
“The Girl Who Was Plugged In” marks Kent’s first major feature effort since 2018 with “The Nightingale,” and she had previously linked up with Oscar-winner Guillermo del Toro for his Netflix horror anthology streaming series, “Cabinet of Curiosities.”
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