You may not recognize Chris Eigeman's name, but if you know the work of Whit Stillman then he's a face that pops up quite often. Eigeman has featured in a number of Stillman's films, including Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco, while also cultivating his own career behind the camera. While his 2007 directorial debut, Turn the River, made some waves on the smaller awards circuit, it didn't do much elsewhere. If the talent on his follow-up is any indication, Eigeman could be looking at a big boost to his profile.
Screen Daily reports that Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Kruger, and Emile Hirsch will star in Midnight Sun, which Eigeman will write and direct. Set in 1943 against the backdrop of the atom bomb's creation, the story follows two post-grad students, one recently married, who are recruited by the government to work on a top secret project. They toss aside their jazzy lives in New York and move to a secret research community out in the desert. This sounds pretty cool, and with consultation by Richard Rhodes, the Pultizer Prize-winning author behind The Making of the Atomic Bomb, it should be authentic as well. Filming is planned for this summer, so hopefully we'll see it early next year.
