Imagine a world where all emotion has been erased. Feelings such as love, hate, and greed are wiped from existence, until one starts to have those emotions again. It may sound a lot like The Giver, but it's actually Equals, the latest love story from Like Crazy and Breathe In director Drake Doremus. The futuristic sci-fi romance stars Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart, guaranteeing it will probably be the indie filmmaker's biggest film yet, and now we have the first shadowy image of his two stars sharing a moment. Here's the synopsis:
A futuristic love story set in a society where emotions have been eradicated. Equals tells the story of Silas (Hoult), who lives in a future society called The Collective. The inhabitants of this modern world are a new breed of humans called Equals. Equals are peaceful, calm, fair and polite. Life in The Collective is perfect; there is no greed, no poverty, no violence and no emotion but a new disease is threatening everyone. SOS, or Switched On Syndrome, is activating in its victims everything they thought they had escaped: depression, sensitivity, fear & love. Once a person is overtaken with SOS, they are sent away to The Den and never seen again. When Silas is infected, he becomes an outcast but he notices one person who seems to understand what he’s going through. Nia (Stewart) has feelings, but she seems to be able to hide them. When he confronts her, they discover a connection that quickly takes over everything. They feel love and intimacy for the first time in their lives but the only way for them to ensure their survival is to escape.
Guy Pearce, who starred in Breathe In for Doremus just a couple of years ago, plays a tracker hunting down the two lovers. For Hoult, he's proven pretty successful with unconventional romances having previously starred in Warm Bodies. Stewart has been working with one auteur after another, and this is just the latest in a string of challenging roles that will hopefully gain her the respectability she deserves.
Kate Lyn Sheil, Auroroa Perrineau, and Jacki Weaver co-star. Equals is filming now and should open some time next year. [Variety]
