From the low-down setting of a country conflict to the high-concept realm of science fiction — not just for Jeff Nichols, it seems. In following the recent, acclaimed Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, helmer David Lowery and star Casey Affleck have been tapped for a reunion on To Be Two, “a thinking man’s sci-fi tale” that puts greater focus on “identity and the self” than, for instance, lasers and spaceships. Having raised comparisons to Looper, though, a bit of the out-there isn’t being put aside.
THR have the full details, revealing the project to be an adaptation of Paul Broks‘ short, To Be Two or Not To Be (why would you cut down this title?), a tale which, in itself, pilfers from territory covered by philosopher Derek Parfit. In Lowery‘s picture, a system has been established whereby human beings are scanned in a teleportation system that, via some technology we need not concern ourselves with too greatly, sends a person’s digital composite to the planet Mars, whereat it’s built again — all as the human incarnation is vaporized. Something goes wrong, in one such case, thus forcing us to confront questions of perceiving reality and, seemingly, the ethics of killing. Might Looper start to ring a bell?
Affleck will star — I’d presume he’d play the man caught in this mess of digital body swapping, though I’ve been wrong on just so, so many things in my life — and executive produce alongside Sailor Bear, the team consisting of Saints backers Lowery, James M. Johnston, and Toby Halbrooks; Jim Wilson is producing, while Silver Reel have come along to help finance.
By the sound of it, do Lowery and Affleck have a potential hit on their hands?