J.K. Simmons is in negotiations to join Chris Pratt in Ghost Draft, a sci-fi thriller from Skydance and Paramount.
GLOW star Betty Gilpin is also in talks to join the project, whose name is a working title and is casting up ahead of a September start that will shoot in Atlanta and Iceland. Chris McKay, who directed The Lego Batman Movie, is helming the pic.
The script, with drafts by Zach Dean and Bill Dubuque, is set in a future where humanity is losing a war against aliens. To turn the tide, scientists draft soldiers from the past to fight the war.
Character details are being kept under wraps, but it is understood that Simmons would play Pratt’s father.
David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Jules Daly, Adam Kolbrenner and David Goyer are producing. Rob Cowan is executive producing. Samantha Nisenboim will co-produce.
Simmons, who won an Oscar for his performance in the indie drama Whiplash, has been spending time in the worlds of several series of late. He starred on Starz’s spy drama The Counterpart, appeared on IFC’s Brockmire and had a recurring role on the recent return of Veronica Mars on Hulu. The actor will next appear on the big screen opposite Chadwick Boseman in the crime thriller 21 Bridges.
Simmons is repped by Gersh.
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