It’s been seven whole years since we’ve had a new feature from British director Jonathan Glazer, but after several hiccups, it looks like his adaptation of Michael Faber‘s darkly comic sci-fi novel “Under The Skin” is finally gathering some momentum with production set to begin this October.
The casting of Scarlett Johansson late last year has surely helped Glazer’s cause — after all, the actress is taking on the salacious lead, described as “an alien on earth, disguised as a mesmerizing woman who uses her voracious sexuality to scour remote highways and desolate scenery to snare human prey.” We’re honestly just glad to see Glazer’s return behind the camera on a major feature film after the impressive combo of “Sexy Beast” and “Birth.”
The “Under The Skin” adaptation was still being shopped around at the American Film Market last year nearly 18 months after it was being lined up for a 2010 shoot. We were starting to think that it was never going to happen for Glazer but thankfully things look to have turned around. A synopsis of the story goes onto fascinatingly describe Johansson’s alien as “deadly efficient, over time [she] becomes drawn to and changed by the complexity of life on earth. With this new found humanity and weakening alien resolve, she finds herself on a collision course with her own kind.”
Lensing on “Under The Skin” will get underway this October for eight weeks in Scotland, the original setting of the novel. We imagine it’ll be a prime candidate for a festival bow in the latter half of 2012. [Cineuropa]