Some years back writer/director Richard Stanley and ‘Splice’ helmer Vincenzo Natali teamed up to work on a script adapted from author J.G. Ballard’s sci-fi thriller ‘High Rise’. Bring it forward to 2014 and the production has gone through all sorts of changes. Most notably that Brit director Ben Wheatley (‘Sightseers’, ‘A Field in England’) has taken the reigns and now has landed his leading man. ‘Thor’ star Tom Hiddleston has been cast in the lead role as Robert Laing, a young doctor seduced by the high-rise and its creator, the visionary architect Anthony Royal. Head below for what Wheatley had to say on the matter as well as some early cool teaser art.
Here’s what Wheatley had to say about the casting:
“I am very excited to be working with Tom Hiddleston on this project. He is the perfect Laing to me. He brings an intelligence, vulnerability and humour to his roles, be they art-house or blockbuster that will make Laing come alive. It’s also a great privilege to be working with Ballard’s seminal book.”
“High Rise centers on a new residential tower built on the eve of Thatcher’s England, at the site of what will soon become the world’s financial hub. Designed as a luxurious solution to the problems of the city, it is a world apart. As the residents break into tribal factions, Laing finds himself in the middle of mounting violence. Violence that he also finds emerging in himself.”
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