Great Gatsby Actor Will Search For His Father In Sci-Fi Drama Our Robot Overlords
It’s almost to the point where when you see something called Our Robot Overlords, you can easily be mistaken and think it’s some kind of submissive masifesto. Luckily, it’s just an upcoming sci-fi drama that sounds absolutely nothing like Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, which itself was unlike anything in cinematic history. (Sarcasm.)
The U.K. film’s cast just got bigger, as Australian actor Callan McAuliffe has been signed on to fill the lead role. You’ll be more familiar with him as young Jay Gatsby whenever Baz Luhrmann’s lavish adaptation of The Great Gatsby hits theaters this weekend. Otherwise you might know him from last year’s Underground: The Julian Assange Story or from D.J. Caruso’s mostly terrible I Am Number Four from a couple of years back. You’ll see him next in the coming-of-age drama Beneath the Harvest Sky, and he’s teaming up with Samuel L. Jackson for Ralph Ziman’s action flick Kite, which is now filming.
McAuliffe will have his acting work cut out for him, as he joins a production that already includes Sir Ben Kingsley (Ender’s Game) and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files). And even though director/screenwriter Jon Wright only has two low-budget flicks behind him, one of them was last year’s strange and amusing Grabbers, so we already have a good idea of Wright’s above-average sci-fi skill level.
Our Robot Overlords takes place during a war between humans and robots — go figure — and follows the teen McAuliffe as he gathers a group of other teenagers to help him search for his long-lost father. The Deer Hunter with robots? Doubtful, but it could still be intriguing, depending on the tone.
Production will begin on June 3rd in Ireland, Wright’s homeland, and is set for a reported $21 million budget. Hopefully we get some real robots in this thing instead of just a lot of CGI mayhem.
