In May, we reported that Michael Bay was going to produce a movie called Songbird that takes a Paranormal Activity or Cloverfield-style approach to a global pandemic, telling a story about citizens in the virus-ravaged Los Angeles of 2022 where lockdowns were rolled back too early and the virus came back stronger than ever. In May, we described this as “depressing bleak,” seeing as how we were living in the middle of an actual global pandemic and the idea of lockdowns being rolled back too early was a very real concern. That was in May, and we thought it seemed a little too frighteningly plausible. It is now July, lockdowns in many states were rolled back too early, and the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus has skyrocketed. Despite that, our signature withering snark was once again ignored by Hollywood and production on Bay’s Songbird—which is directed by Adam Mason—continues unabated.
Basically, the movie seemed like a questionable idea a few months ago. Now it seems more like making a Godzilla movie while the people of Tokyo are still trying to avoid being stepped on by a lizard. It’s not that Bay and Mason shouldn’t be allowed to make this movie, of course, it’s that we can’t imagine who would want to see this, let alone star in it… though, conveniently, we do now know who wants to star in it. According to Deadline, Songbird will star Riverdale’s KJ Apa and The Perfectionists’ Sofia Carson, plus Demi Moore, Bradley Whitford, Craig Robinson, Jenna Ortega, Paul Walter Hauser, and Peter Stormare.
Deadline also has some more specifics about the plot, saying Apa will be playing “a delivery man who delivers goods and hope throughout the city” (have Mason and co-writer Simon Boyes played Death Stranding?), with Carson playing his locked-down girlfriend. To be with her, Apa will have to face “martial law, murderous vigilantes, and a powerful, well-connected family.” This new reveal that Songbird is about more than just a pandemic going on forever makes it seem a little more palatable, and it’s worth noting that they seem to be moving away from the idea that it’s specifically about our pandemic, but it’s all still pretty real. Then again, this whole thing has to be close to running its course, so maybe it’ll all be over soon. Ha ha ha.