Variety reports that Jake Gyllenhaal will finally achieve his dream of going into space, joining Ryan Reynolds and Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation’s Rebecca Ferguson in the science-fiction adventure Life. Written by Deadpool scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, the story follows the distractingly good-looking crew of the International Space Station as it retrieves a sample from Mars and finds not only that the sample displays signs of life, but that said life is more intelligent than expected. Daniel Espinosa, the director of Safe House and some other movies that will temper your expectations, will helm the project.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gyllenhaal has taken over the part Reynolds was originally slated to play, noting that Reynolds had to take a different, more supportive role in Life after discovering a conflict with his new action thriller Hitman’s Bodyguard. Sure, given Reynolds’ track record with action movies that aren’t Deadpool, it’s tempting to think that Life, by default, has more potential to be a good movie. But Reynold’s acceptance of a character with presumably less screen time displays his continued commitment to the project. And it hardly matters whether Gyllenhaal or Reynolds interacts with the Martians—all chiseled white guys probably look the same to them.