Idris Elba will co-direct British indie survival thriller Above The Below with Martin Owen. It has astronauts!
After making his directorial debut with 2018’s Yardie, Idris Elba has taken a step back from the director’s chair. He’s been keeping busy though; we’ve seen him in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, faced off against a lion in Beast and the actor also reprised one of his most beloved roles in Luther: The Fallen Sun, to mention a few projects. We won’t talk about Cats, it’s still too soon.
In May, we reported that Elba was starring in and directing Infernus, a prison-set thriller, which was due to enter production early October. We can’t say we have any more news on that specific project, but we do know Elba is looking to do more directing.
The Luther-actor is helming a survival thriller titled Above The Below together with Martin Owen. The film, not to be confused with the similarly titled horror film As Above, So Below, is based on Owen’s original idea and the script was penned by Elizabeth Morris, Matt Mitchell and Vicki Sargent.
Idris Elba in Beast.
The film follows a trio of astronauts who survive their re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, but find themselves dangerously off-course and cut off from the world. Their capsule begins to sink after landing in the ocean, leaving them fighting for their lives.
Colour us intrigued! No news on cast yet, although the press release promises it will be announced soon.
The talent behind the camera doesn’t end with Elba and Owen though. James Friend, who picked up the Oscar for Best Cinematography for All Quiet On The Western Front earlier this year, has signed on as the cinematographer, so we can expect the film to look pretty pristine.
Future Artists Entertainment is producing the project and Matt Williams, one of the producers of the film and co-founder of Future Artists Entertainment, spoke excitedly about the project.
“We are beyond excited about Idris and Martin’s collaboration. This is a crazy rollercoaster of a movie that will have audiences on the edge of their seat! We have put together the best creative team the UK has to offer and I’m confident I’m confident we will deliver a visually spectacular and memorable movie experience.”
More as we hear it…
—
Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website:
Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
Buy our Film Stories and Film Junior print magazines here.
Become a Patron here.
