Ava DuVernay and Lupita Nyong’o courted for ‘Intelligent Life’

After the brilliant Selma, director Ava DuVernay has been very busy – and we’ve all been looking forward to seeing what she does next. According to Deadline, she is being courted for two features: A Wrinkle in Time – based on the classic 1962 book – and Intelligent Life, co-scripted by Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow.

The Hollywood Reporter also report that the Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o is in talks for Intelligent Life, to star as ‘the woman at the center of the alien contact.’ The plot is as follows: a UN employee, whose department exists in the small case we make contact with another world, falls in love with a woman (Nyong’o’s character, we assume) who turns out to be not altogether human. Since Trevorrow slinked out of the director’s chair in order to make Star Wars: Episode IX, we expect the movie to be quite like the filmmaker’s debut Safety Not Guaranteed, an excellent indie film that got him noticed enough to be pulled aboard Jurassic World.

So far, the shooting schedules for A Wrinkle in Time and Intelligent Life don’t actually clash – so realistically, DuVernay could direct both if she so wished (although we think it’s probably not likely). Expect a decision on DuVernay’s part soon.