Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson to star in Kathryn Bigelow’s Netflix project

Kathryn Bigelow
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Things seem to be moving pretty quickly on her new film, following the scrapping of Kathryn Bigelow’s previous Netflix project.


After a protracted period of development, it was with some dismay that we learned back in April that Netflix wouldn’t be moving forward with Kathryn Bigelow’s planned film Aurora. As you likely know, there’s been a change in leadership at the streaming platform’s film division and Bigelow’s project – her first since 2017’s Detroit – was deemed as no longer suitable due to budgetary reasons.

On the bright side though, Netflix quickly announced that the Point Break and Zero Dark Thirty filmmaker would be directing a different project with it, and thankfully, things seem to be running much more smoothly this time.

While we don’t yet know the name of this new project, we do know that it’s a thriller that focuses ‘on a group of White House officials scrambling to deal with an incoming missile attack on the US.’

Deadline also adds, ‘Sources say the story will be told in real time and that its tone harkens back to Bigelow’s foreboding 2012 hit Zero Dark Thirty, which chronicled the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the Navy Seal mission to kill the terror leader.’

Given that the project was only announced last month, things seem to be progressing well and key casting has now been announced for the project. Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson will star in what seems to be a single location thriller, with that location being the White House.

Read more: Netflix doesn’t want you to know its subscriber numbers anymore

Interestingly, the script for the unnamed film was written by former NBC News president Noah Oppenheim.

There’s no reveal as to who Elba and Ferguson are playing but feel free to cast your vote in the comments below as to which one would make a better President of the United States of America.

The film is reportedly set to shoot in July in Pennsylvania with a debut on Netflix likely at some point in 2025.

Both actors have enjoyed plenty of exposure in recent years with big splashy franchise movies, Elba with The Suicide Squad and a Fast & Furious spin-off while Ferguson is a series regular in both the Dune and Mission: Impossible films. Both actors excel at playing intense characters.

This is one of the first films to be greenlit by Dan Lin, the company’s new film boss and it will be interesting to see if it can fulfil his statement of intent: be a better movie than Netflix’s usual output while costing less.

We’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it.

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