28 DAYS LATER Writer To Make His Directorial Debut with a Sci-Fi Thriller Starring Oscar Isaac

I'm so glad that everyone is finally on the Oscar Isaac train. I admit, I didn't officially start to take notice of him until he cradled a cat for 100 minutes starred in Inside Llewyn Davis, but he's always been an actor who delivered solid performances in that film about that guy. Not really a standout, but you're intrigued enough to keep one eye on him. He may finally be on his way to that coveted A-list status with an interesting new role that, like most roles, could go really well or really badly.

A24, the studio that brought us Under the Skin starring Scarlett Johansson earlier this year, has just announced that they have acquired the rights to 28 Days Later... and Never Let Me Go writer Alex Garland's directorial debut, EX MACHINA. Described as a cerebral thriller, the film will star Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander (soon to be seen in The Man from U.N.C.L.E remake).

More about the project after the jump:

Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine, makes his directorial debut with the stylish and cerebral thriller, EX MACHINA. Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a programmer at an internet-search giant, wins a competition to spend a week at the private mountain estate of the company's brilliant and reclusive CEO, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). Upon his arrival, Caleb learns that Nathan has chosen him to be the human component in a Turing Test—charging him with evaluating the capabilities, and ultimately the consciousness, of Nathan’s latest experiment in artificial intelligence. That experiment is Ava (Alicia Vikander), a breathtaking A.I. whose emotional intelligence proves more sophisticated, seductive––and more deceptive––than the two men could have imagined.

Goodness knows we've been getting a lot of these sci-fi thrillers lately, though I think Garland is really good at approaching the genre in a fresh and genuinely interesting way that is more than just big explosions and bleak apocalyptic undertones. So we'll just have to wait and see how this one will end up. I'm not familiar with Vikander's work, and while I know Gleeson has landed on a few people's "stars to watch" lists, I can't say I've been too impressed with what I've seen from him. So it's really all about Isaac and Garland for me. As for now, I'm intrigued. 

What do you think? Check back back on the site Thursday for a teaser trailer.

EX MACHINA will be released April 10, 2015.