Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and Jurnee Smollett are set to star in Netflix’s upcoming Spiderhead. The movie is based on a 2010 short story titled Escape from Spiderhead by George Saunders, which was originally published by the New Yorker. The story was later included in the author’s New York Times bestselling book, Tenth of December. A screen adaptation was first announced back at the beginning of 2019 with Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski at the helm.
Joseph Kosinski is directing Spiderhead from a script written by Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Greg Saunders’ original dystopian story takes place in the near future as two convicts try and escape a facility run by a visionary. This particular visionary uses the convicts as test subjects, giving them drugs that alter their states of mind and their emotions. The aim is to make the prisoners look back at their pasts and, in exchange for their compliance with the experiments, they are given lesser sentences.
Miles Teller worked with Joseph Kosinski on Top Gun: Maverick, which has been delayed until July 2nd, 2021. Teller also starred in the critically acclaimed Whiplash. As for Jurnee Smollett, she starred alongside Margot Robbie in the Birds of Prey movie earlier this year and can currently be seen on HBO’s Lovecraft Country, which has been receiving heaps of praise from critics and viewers alike. In addition to Top Gun: Maverick Joseph Kosinski has also directed Kosinski, who has directed Oblivion and TRON: Legacy. It is believed that all of the Top Gun sequel footage has been shot, but the post-production process will likely continue on until the movie is released next year.
Chris Hemsworth is best-known for playing Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was recently seen in Netflix’s Extraction and is preparing to return to the MCU, alongside Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman for Thor: Love and Thunder. The long-awaited sequel is supposed to go into production soon, with Taika Waititi directing and writing. This will be the second time that Waititi and Hemsworth have collaborated on a standalone movie for The God of Thunder after Thor: Ragnarok. As for his future with the MCU, Hemsworth does not believe the next Thor installment will be his last and is more than willing to return afterwards.
Spiderhead will be produced by Eric Newman for Screen Arcade through the producer’s first-look deal at Netflix, along with Chris Hemsworth. Oren Katzeff and Geneva Wasserman for The New Yorker Studios will also produce, along with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Tommy Harper and Jeremy Steckler. There is no release date for the movie just yet, and it’s unclear when Netflix plans to have production start up, though early next year seems like a safe bet, depending on what happens with the Thor: Love and Thunder production. The Spiderhead news was first announced by The Hollywood Reporter.
