It was first announced last fall that Alex Garland, the writer and director behind the critically-acclaimed sci-fi thriller Ex Machina, had signed on to direct Paramount Pictures‘ upcoming futuristic gothic horror adaptation Annihilation, based on the first part of novelist Jeff VanderMeer’s “Southern Reach” trilogy. It was then revealed back in May that Academy Award winner Natalie Portman (Black Swan, Thor) had signed on to star. Today, Variety has an update, reporting that Paramount is currently in talks with “Jane the Virgin” star Gina Rodriguez for an as of yet undisclosed role.
Annihilation, first published in 2014, is officially described as follows:
A team of four (a biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor) set out into a place known as Area X. The area is abandoned and cut off from the rest of civilization. They are the 12th expedition. The other expeditions have been fraught with disappearances, suicides, aggressive cancers, and mental trauma.
Paramount Pictures and producer Scott Rudin (also a producer on Ex Machina) acquired the movie rights to the entire 2014 trilogy last year. “Annihilation” published in March, was followed by “Authority” in May and “Acceptance” in September.
Outside of the hit CW series “Jane the Virgin,” Gina Rodriguez has been seen in big screen films like Filly Brown. She can be seen coming up in Peter Berg’s Deepwater Horizon, starring opposite Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Dylan O’Brien, and Kate Hudson.
