Following her impressive directorial debut with Westworld episode “The Riddle of the Sphinx,” co-executive producer Lisa Joy is stepping behind a much bigger camera to direct her long-awaited science fiction film, Reminiscence — with Hugh Jackman as the film’s possible star.
According to Deadline, Jackman and his Greatest Showman co-star Rebecca Ferguson are in talks to star in Joy’s Reminiscence, a sci-fi film about a private eye who helps people recapture memories from their past.
Joy wrote the screenplay, which made the Black List back in 2013, and will also direct. Production is set to start around mid-October, after her involvement in Westworld’s third season has ended.
Joy went into detail in an interview with Deadline about the plot of Reminiscence and her inspiration for writing the original story. The story comes across as a near-future noir thriller, but there are elements that definitely set it apart from the likes of Minority Report…or even something like Westworld. The main thing is the setting.
The film takes place in Miami several years in the future, where global warming has led to large-scale flooding — to the point where much of the city is now underwater. Joy shared how she felt a massive environmental change like that would impact the area, not just economically, but socially:
You see a much changed Miami, where the waters encroach the land itself and the outskirts of the city are flooded. The dry lands that are more inland have become the home of the rich, who have taken over the dry inland part and left the rest of the community to create new communities on the flooded outskirts. The way that this looks onscreen will be beautiful, as though Miami — turned into Venice — meets the floating markets of Thailand. That’s what this culture looks like. I wanted to create a really immersive culture of life and sensuality that’s really appealing.
You can read her full interview in Deadline’s article. No release date for Reminiscence has been announced yet.