Some films and their filmmakers prefer to keep their twists a secret until the absolute last minute, asking audiences not to give away anything so as to let others enjoy the surprises when they see the movie.
And then there’s new Adam Driver-starring sci-fi film ‘65’, which lets you in on the reason for the film’s title from the first trailer and poster.
We’re assuming there are more plot points to be revealed, but for now, let’s see the basics: After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Driver) quickly discovers he’s actually stranded on Earth… 65 million years ago.
Adam Driver in Sony's '65.'
Now, with only one chance at rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt, who played young Gamora in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures in an epic fight to survive.
It’s another high concept offering from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who you might recall, wrote the original script for ‘A Quiet Place’, which John Krasinski then re-wrote, directed, starred and used to launch a cinematic universe that has so far spawned one sequel, with another in development and spin-off ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ busy finding its cast.
Here, Beck and Woods are staying more involved, directing ’65’ and producing the movie alongside slightly well-known genre filmmaker Sam Raimi, who is involved via his Raimi Productions company.
(L to ) Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt in Sony's '65.'
The connection between Raimi and the writer/directors stretches back to his short-lived Quibi series ‘50 States of Fright’, which can these days be found lurking on the Roku Channel.
And the links continue, as providing a chunk of the score for the new movie (alongside Chris Bacon) is Raimi regular Danny Elfman.
So far, we really don’t know much more about that movie beyond the basic concept––though ‘My Spy’ and ‘Marry Me’s Chloe Coleman is also in the cast. Presumably, she’s not playing one of the dinosaurs. Though is playing a character in this weekend’s ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ via performance capture, so perhaps she caught the bug for bringing different characters to life.
(L to ) Ariana Greenblatt and Adam Driver in Sony's '65.'
“For us, ‘65’ was the project we wrote when ‘A Quiet Place’ came out and the studio decided it was going to be a franchise and sequel,” Woods said during a panel at the 2020 Nightstream Film Festival (via The Knockturnal). “We wrote ‘A Quiet Place’ because we were tired of the sequels. The only movies that were being made were sequels and franchises and comic book movies. We wrote this movie in the wake of that.”
“It’s one that’s been gestating in our heads for years and years,” Beck added.
Driver’s presence is perhaps surprising given that he did his time in sci-fi with the three giant ‘Star Wars’ and since then has mostly stuck to Earthbound dramas such as ‘House of Gucci’ and ‘The Last Duel’. His next movie to arrive will be Noah Baumbach’s ‘White Noise’, due on Netflix on December 30th.
‘65’, meanwhile, will land in theaters on March 10th.
Adam Driver in Sony's '65.'
Adam Driver in Sony's '65.'
