While he doesn’t seem to direct much anymore, Luc Besson is very busy with his Europacorp studio, creating the stories for the likes of Taken, District 13 and From Paris With Love. However it seems he’s vaguely run out of tales, as he’s currently working on Lockout, which many have described as being basically Taken, but set in space.
Besson has now found his first Lockout cast members, with Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace signing up to star, along with Peter Stormare and Tom Hollander. According to The Wrap, ‘The film takes place in a prison that is orbiting 50 miles above Earth and houses 500 of the world’s most dangerous prisoners who are kept asleep by sophisticated methods until they suddenly awaken, causing all hell to break loose.’ with Deadline adding that is ‘transports a Taken-like premise to outer space’. No one seems to know though, what roles all these actors will actually be playing.
The film is expected to be budgeted in the mid $30 millions range and go into production before the end of the year. Stephen St. Leger and James Mather will direct from a script they co-wrote with Luc Besson.