Bio/psychological hazard pic Retreat appears to have claimed its first victim, as,despite being announced back in February, Jason Isaacs may no longer be part of the cast. Deadline reports that Cillian Murphy is now the leading man, playing Thandie Newton’s husband.
Retreat will find Kate and Martin (Newton and Murphy) trying to escape from a recent personal tragedy by going away to an island bolthole. But their attempts to shut themselves off from the world are rudely interrupted when a man (David Tennant, assuming he’s also still attached) is washed ashore bringing word that Europe has been stricken by a terrible, airborne killer disease.
Trouble is, the couple don’t know if the new arrival is even telling the truth. Producer Gary Sinyor is pimping the movie as “a landlocked Knife in the Water meets Dead Calm.” We’re still hoping Isaacs is attached in some way – while we love the Tennant, we’d find Isaacs a lot more threatening as the mystery man.
Editor Carl Tibbetts is making the leap to writing and directing for this one, and he’s gearing up to film it in Wales this September.
One more hurdle might afflict the movie as it kicks off shooting – the title. There are at least four other movies in various stages of development/production, with Dax Shepard attached to one of them, all bearing the title The Retreat. True, they all have the “The” there, but we’re betting the first film to arrive in cinemas will claim the title.