We’ve known for a while that the mysterious comic film the Wachowskis have been developing is a sort of galactic Snow White story, and the synopsis that Warner Bros. has just sent around pretty much confirms it.
From the streets of Chicago to far flung galaxies whirling through space, Jupiter Ascending was conceived and written by the Wachowskis, who are also directing. Award-winning producer Grant Hill, with whom the writer/directors have collaborated since “The Matrix” Trilogy, is producing the film together with the Wachowskis. Roberto Malerba and Bruce Berman are serving as executive producers.
Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) was born under a night sky, with signs predicting that she was destined for great things. Now grown, Jupiter dreams of the stars but wakes up to the cold reality of a job cleaning toilets and an endless run of bad breaks. Only when Caine (Channing Tatum), a genetically engineered ex-military hunter, arrives on Earth to track her down does Jupiter begin to glimpse the fate that has been waiting for her all along – her genetic signature marks her as next in line for an extraordinary inheritance that could alter the balance of the cosmos.
The film has been shooting for a bit, with Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis starring with folks like Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean, and Doona Bae in what I hope will be the most marketable Wachowski film in a long while. As far and as passionately as I will go to bat for the incredible Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas, it would be nice for the siblings to have their stock replenished a little bit, if only so we can see them continue to push the limits of filmmaking.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for our first look at this film for sure.