Anthony LaPaglia and Mallory Jansen will join Lindsay Farris in the cast for Alex Proyas’ feature adaption of the classic sci-fi play R.U.R., set to begin shooting in Sydney this October.
Deadline reports that pre-production is underway for the project at Heretic Foundation’s VFX facilities in Alexandria, 12 months after it was first announced.
Proyas’ script is based on the story from Czech writer Karel Čapek, first published in 1920, which centres on a scientist that works out how to create human-like machines, leading him to create a factory that produces and distributes the mechanisms, only for the robots to end up revolting, killing all but one engineer.
The film will follow a young woman who visits the island factory of Rossum’s Universal Robots to emancipate the robots from capitalist exploitation, with catastrophic results. Farris will play Rossum’s Universal Robots general manager Harry Doman, with Jansen, known for her roles in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Galavant, to play Helena Glory.
R.U.R. will be LaPaglia’s first feature since Justin Kurzel’s Nitram, with the veteran Australian actor having since been seen in series’ Boy Swallows Universe and Florida Man, as well as on stage in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. His role is yet to be confirmed.
Proyas is producing the film via his company Mystery Clock Cinema alongside Adam Krentzman, Morris Ruskin, Steven Matusko, and Brett Thornquest. According to Deadline, EPs are Matthew Rhodes of The Hideaway Entertainment, Rohit Khanna, and Alasdair King of Icon Film, with the production also receiving support from US company Mojo.
Other members of the creative team are Andrew Robinson and composer Michael Lira.
Proyas, known for helming 1994’s The Crow and 2004’s I, Robot told IF last year he wanted to “supercharge” the satirical aspect of the original story within a modern setting.
“I’ve substantially rewritten the play to make it contemporary because it talks about what’s happening today in terms of AI, but through the lens of this wonderful, classic tale, so a lot had to change,” he said.