Like big buses parked on rocky promontories, lighthouse movies are coming along in pairs at the moment. Following Michael Fassbender/Alicia Vikander lighthouse-athon The Light Between Oceans comes a British tale of tall towers with powerful lanterns, Keepers. The psychological thriller has just added Gerard Butler, Peter Mullan and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk’s Joe Alwyn to its ranks.
The The Light Between Oceans parallel is apt because like that literary adaptation, this one involves a life-changing discovery on a remote offshore lighthouse station. When the three keepers (Mullan, Butler and Alwyn), pulling a six-week shift 20 miles from the Scottish coast, come into possession of this mysterious item/substance/discovery, it sparks first curiosity, then greed, then paranoia. A distant ship may hold the answer to the riddle.
"These men are the strong and unique characters at the heart of this story,” explains director Kristoffer Nyholm (The Killing), "which is a journey from innocence to animalistic survival. Keepers was great to read, will be an adventure to make, and terrifying to watch.”
The three stars, three generations of British actors, will be gearing up to be battered by briny sea air and storm-tossed in early 2017 when the film’s shoot gets underway in the UK.