From low-budget indie films like Kill List and A Field In England, to the starrier likes of High-Rise and Free Fire, British director Ben Wheatley has switched up the scope and scale of his work from film to film. After last year’s intimate comedy-drama Happy New Year, Colin Burstead, the filmmaker is about to take on his biggest-budget, highest-profile movie yet – a sequel to 2018’s Tomb Raider reboot, bringing Alicia Vikander back as Lara Croft.
Joining the Empire Podcast live in Brighton this week, Wheatley spoke about how the Tomb Raider sequel will allow him to fulfil his ‘ambition’ to make a major Hollywood blockbuster. “As a film fan, to make a Hollywood film is a big deal,” he says. “I always said that – it's never been the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, going forward making movie after movie to get to that, but I think to do it, to experience it, will be really interesting.”
As for what the film itself will involve, Wheatley kept quiet. “If I'm smart I say nothing at this point,” he said. “The voice is in my head, 'No, don't say a fucking thing! Be quiet now, be calm!’” He did offer one tease though: “It sticks pretty much to what happens in the game, if you can imagine.” With 2018’s Tomb Raider taking inspiration from the 2013 video game reboot, it sounds like Wheatley’s sequel could be adapting elements of 2015’s Rise Of The Tomb Raider, which took Lara to the frozen wilds of Siberia, hunting for more treasure and once again facing nefarious organisation Trinity.
Hear more from Wheatley in this week’s Empire Podcast, coming soon to a pod-device near you.