Update: Armie Hammer will reteam with Wheatley for Freakshift, according to Deadline. See the original story below.
One of the longest-developing projects from Kill List and High-Rise director Ben Wheatley is Freakshift, a police versus creature adventure picture that has been compared to the ’80s TV classic Hill Street Blues. Five years ago, he said it’s “about a crew that’s built up this armored vehicle and they go out and have to respond to 911 calls about these big monsters that have come out of the ground.” The monsters are said to resemble “massive half-monkey mutant things and loads of weird spiders and shit,” which require chemical warfare suits to battle. As he explained, “You don’t want to get blood on you or you’ll get infected.”
It looks like the director has now found the actor that will try to avoid all that blood while going hunting. Following in the footsteps of fellow Oscar winner, Brie Larson (who leads Wheatley’s upcoming shoot-em-up Free Fire), Alicia Vikander is in talks for the lead role of Freakshift, according to Deadline. While the Ex Machina star is currently busy shooting Tomb Raider, if the deal goes through, she would kick off production of this enticing project in August.
As we await confirmation, along with more cast announcements, check out a recommended podcast episode on the films of Ben Wheatley below, courtesy of Everything But Sports, who had Adam Nayman, author of a recent book about the director, as a guest.