Nearly five years since the theatrical release of the crime drama Detroit, Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow is finally making her feature directorial comeback in the form of a drama film for Netflix. Bigelow has officially signed on to direct and produce the film adaptation of Aurora, based on acclaimed scribe David Keopp’s upcoming survival thriller novel.
Bigelow is best known for her work on 2008’s The Hurt Locker and 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty, with the first one winning her an Oscar for Best Director. This marks Bigelow’s latest collaboration with the streamer after she served as an executive producer on the 2019 action film Triple Frontier.
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Netflix’s Aurora film will center around characters who are coping with the collapse of the social order, set against a catastrophic worldwide power crisis. Described as a suspenseful display of storytelling, Koepp’s upcoming second novel will be published on June 7 by HarperCollins.
“In Aurora, Illinois, Aubrey Wheeler is just trying to get by after her semi-criminal ex-husband split, leaving behind his unruly teenage son. Then the lights go out—not just in Aurora but across the globe. A solar storm has knocked out power almost everywhere,” reads the synopsis. “Suddenly, all problems are local, very local, and Aubrey must assume the mantle of fierce protector of her suburban neighborhood. Across the country lives Aubrey’s estranged brother, Thom. A fantastically wealthy, neurotically over-prepared Silicon Valley CEO, he plans to ride out the crisis in a gilded desert bunker he built for maximum comfort and security. But the complicated history between the siblings is far from over, and what feels like the end of the world is just the beginning of several long-overdue reckonings—which not everyone will survive…”
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The screenplay will also be written by Keopp, who is best known for writing a number of blockbuster films such Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man, Panic Room, War of the Worlds, and Angels & Demons.
Aurora will also be produced by Greg Shapiro and Gavin Polone.