Rhys Ifans, Ed Skrein to star in sci-fi thriller “Gateway 6”

PanARMENIAN.Net - After topping the most recent Brit List of the best unproduced screenplays, Malachi Smyth's Gateway 6 is gathering speed, having been picked up by Altitude Film Sales, attaching a couple of major names and planning a market launch at the American Film Market next month, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, The Amazing Spider-Man, Snowden) and Ed Skrein (The Transporter Refueled, Deadpool) are now set to star in the science-fiction thriller, which will be the debut feature of director Tanel Toon, whose short The Confession was Oscar-nominated in 2011.

Set on a futuristic, "war-ravaged Earth," Gateway 6 is described as combining the "solitary abandonment of Moon with the claustrophobic atmosphere of Das Boot and the 'fight to survive' instincts of Alien."

It is due to shoot in Estonia in spring and is being produced by Ben Pullen of Sentinel Entertainment and Matthew James Wilkinson (The Call Up) for Stigma Films with Pippa Cross (Vanity Fair, Bloody Sunday) serving as executive producer. Ivo Felt, producer of the Oscar-nominated foreign-language title Tangerines, will be co-producing.

"Recalling classic '70s sci-fi, Gateway 6 is a smart and ambitious contained thriller set in a unique and fully realized world that is by turns thrilling, surprising and emotional with a palpable sense of humanity at its core," said Mike Runagall, managing director of Altitude. "With the cast that has already come on board and further additions to be announced, we have a highly commercial film, which is sure to appeal to a broad audience.”

Ifans is represented by 42 and UTA, and Skrein is represented by 42 and CAA. Further casting will be revealed before AFM where Altitude will be introducing the project to buyers.

Previous hits from The Brit List, a compendium of scripts by non-U.S. writers set up to complement the U.S. Black List, include The King's Speech and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.