Idris Elba in Talks for Max Landis Drama Deeper

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Max Landis Drama Deeper Looks to Add Idris Elba

By Eric Bartsch

Published Feb 3, 2019

Idris Elba is set to go Deeper now that he is in talks to star in the undersea, sci-fi drama from Max Landis and David Goyer.

Idris Elba is in talks to star in Max Landis's Deeper, a drama that was in the works a few years ago at MGM before development stalled.

The film will be directed by Everest's Baltasar Kormakur, who made a splash last year with Adrift, starring Shailene Woodley. David Goyer, known for the Blade films and Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, will produce the picture alongside Landis.

Deeper's story is similar to Leviathan or Michael Crichton's Sphere. Supernatural events haunt a former astronaut aboard a submersible as he's sent on a mission deep into the ocean.

MGM bought the rights to Landis's script and initially moved forward with it. Bradley Cooper and Gal Gadot were going to star with Kornel Mundruczo (White God, Jupiter's Moon) set to direct. However, Mundruczo and Gadot walked away after Cooper's schedule prevented him from committing to the project.

Elba will play the villain Brixton in Hobbs & Shaw, starring Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson. He is also in the middle of filming the adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats and will return to television for the next season of BBC's Luther and Netflix's Turn Up Charlie, both projects Elba executive produces.

MGM shelved Deeper in 2016 while searching for a new director. Kormakur's last two features involved elements of people vs. nature, which could serve him well bringing Landis's vision to life. He is also known for the action-heist caper 2 Guns.

(via Variety)