Netflix and Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company have signed on to OKJA, a monster movie from SNOWPIERCER director Bong Joon-ho, which will star Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano and Bill Nighy.
Variety reports that Netflix is investing in the film, and Plan B is co-producing it. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports that Netflix is investing $50 million in the project.
OKJA boasts a rather impressive cast which includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Bill Nighy, and Kelly MacDonald.
The film’s narrative follows the friendship between a girl and an animal named Okja. Production is slated to begin in Korea and New York in late 2016 for a 2017 release.
“It is a bulky animal, but with a mild and kind spirit,” Bong said in a statement. “The film is about a warm friendship between a country girl and a brute with stories.”
OKJA will see Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano reunited once again after they starred in Denis Villeneuve‘s superb dark thriller PRISONERS in 2013.
Gyllenhaal seems to be enjoying a run of success of late after fantastic performances in NIGHTCRAWLER and this year’s boxing hit SOUTHPAW. He has also been busy on the promotion front in recent months with true life disaster EVEREST, which opened the Venice International Film Festival and DEMOLITION also opened the Toronto International Film Festival.
The actor is also rumoured to be eyeing scripts based on the Boston Marathon bombing, THE CURRENT WAR alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and he is currently working on Tom Ford’s latest feature NOCTURNAL ANIMALS before reuniting with SOUTHPAW’s director Antoine Fuqua for THE MAN WHO MADE IT SNOW.
Dano, who played a young Brian Wilson in this year’s Beach Boys biopic LOVE & MERCY, stars in the upcoming film YOUTH, and a pair of TV mini-series: WAR AND PEACE, and CODES OF CONDUCT.
OKJA is currently in pre-production, and is expected to be released in theaters during the first half of 2017.
