Sharlto Copley & Michael Nyqvist To Lead Sebastian Cordero's Sci-Fi Adventure Pic 'Europa'


Best known for the festival hopping trio of “Ratas, Ratones, Rateros,” “Crónicas” and “Rabia,” Ecuadorian director Sebastian Cordero isn’t exactly a household name but with his latest project, the up-and-comer finds himself at the helm of a promising sci-fi flick boasting a cast which reads like a who’s who of international talent.

Sharlto Copley (“District 9“), Michael Nyqvist (the Swedish ‘Girl With The Dragon Tattoo‘), Anamaria Marinca (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days“), and Daniel Wu (“Shinjuku Incident“) are all attached to star in Cordero’s “Europa,” which is currently in pre-production and will be shopped around at the Toronto International Film Festival in script stage with Wayfare Entertainment and Misher Films behind it.

Scribed by Philip Gelatt (who, according to IMDB, only has one credit to his name: 2011’s “The Bleeding“), the action-adventure pic follows the story of a six-person team of astronauts from various international space stations who are sent by a private sector corporation to be the first manned mission to Jupiter’s fourth moon. Sounds fairly epic in scope particularly with ensemble cast but, at the same time, very much in vein of Danny Boyle‘s “Sunshine” or even Alfonso Cuaron‘s “Gravity.”

Adding to the talent already on board is production designer Eugenio Caballero, who worked on Guillermo Del Toro‘s “Pan’s Labryrinth,” with lensing on the project slated for this fall in New York. Wayfare Entertainment are fully funding the film with Misher Films’ Kevin Misher producing alongside Wayfare’s Ben Browning and Michael Maher, Jeremy Kipp Walker and Andy Berman exec producing. [Deadline]