'Mothership': Halle Berry To Star In Netflix Sci-Fi Flick From 'Bridge Of Spies' Writer Matt Charman
After more 30 years in the industry, Halle Berry is set to make her feature directorial debut with Bruised, an MMA fighter drama which will be released by Netflix sometime this year. The coming release has apparently kicked off a strong relationship between Berry and the streamer, with the actress now signing on to star in a new Netflix sci-fi thriller called Mothership, to be directed by Oscar-nominated Bridge of Spies writer Matt Charman.
Collider reports that Matt Charman is set to make his feature directorial debut with Mothership, a sci-fi adventure starring Berry as a woman whose husband mysteriously vanishes from their rural farm. Here is the logline, per MRC Film:
A sci-fi adventure that follows Sara Morse (Halle Berry) one year since her husband mysteriously vanished from their rural farm. When she discovers a strange, extraterrestrial object underneath their home, Sara and her kids embark on a race to find their husband, father and most importantly – the truth.
Charman will write and direct the film which comes from MRC Film and Netflix. Berry, who is still waiting for her own directorial debut Bruised to receive a release date from Netflix, will executive produce Mothership with Danny Stillman. Also producing are Fred Berger (La La Land, Bad Education, Destroyer) and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Midnight Special, Outside the Wire) of Automatik.
Mothership sounds like the type of solid mid-budget sci-fi flick that you would be likely to find on Netflix these days. But with a big name like Berry involved, it has the potential to be a crossover hit for the streamer along the lines of the Sandra Bullock-starrer Bird Box, which became a minor phenomenon when it was released in 2018. But as it's Charman's directorial debut, it's hard to speculate what kind of film Mothership might be, though the British writer-director's Oscar accolades certainly point in his favor. But apart from Bridge of Spies, even Charman's writing resume is pretty slim — the only other titles of note are the 2017 Amazon film Oasis, directed by Kevin Macdonald and starring Richard Madden, and an ITV miniseries called Black Work, which he also created. But perhaps Charman is an emerging talent with lots of potential — the $30 to 40 million budget for Mothership appears to suggest so.
Production for Mothership is expected to start this spring.
Meanwhile, Berry is reportedly on the lookout for her next directorial effort, which she hopes to center around a strong female protagonist of color. Berry's Bruised, which stars the director as a former MMA fighter struggling to regain custody of her son and return to her athletic career, was acquired by Netflix for $20 million following its world premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.