Both Rooney Mara and Nicholas Hoult could have movies earning some Academy Awards notice this season. Mara has been earning rave reviews for her performance in Carol (which is excellent, by the way), while Hoult was behind the wheel for Mad Max: Fury Road, which has technical achievements beyond anything else seen this year. We'll have to wait a while to find out how that works out, but Mara and Hoult will have a chance to work together in the upcoming sci-fi romance, The Discovery.
While casting stars of their caliber is obviously a great start for the film, what's most interesting is that it's directed and co-written by Charlie McDowell. McDowell's last film was the excellent psychological rom-com, The One I Love (review of that here) with Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss. McDowell is re-teaming with that film's co-writer Justin Lader for The Discovery's screenplay, which is set a full year after an afterlife has been proven to exist. Hoult plays the son of the man who made the discovery, while Mara is the woman with a tragic past that he falls in love with.
Filming on The Discovery begins early next year.
