Scott Rudin has had plenty of success bringing books to the big screen, and he’s always on the lookout for the next potential **Girl With The **Dragon Tattoo or No Country For Old Men. His latest target is Jeff VanderMeer’s novel Annihilation, which is the planned start to a trilogy of tomes.
VanderMeer’s book chronicles an expedition into a mysterious, remote and sealed-off zone known as 'Area X'. For 30 years, Area X been labelled by the government as an environmental disaster zone even though it is to all appearances pristine wilderness. For 30 years, too, a secret agency called the Southern Reach has monitored Area X and sent in expeditions to try to discover the truth.
Some expeditions have suffered terrible consequences. Others have reported nothing out of the ordinary. Now, as Area X seems to be changing and perhaps expanding, the next investigation will attempt to succeed where all others have failed. What is happening in the zone? What is the true nature of the invisible border that surrounds it?
Our heroine and guide for the latest attempt to discover the truth behind the place is a biologist looking for answers to her husband’s disappearance as part of an earlier expedition. She and her colleagues soon discover that all is definitely not what it seems and that they’re being manipulated...
Annihilation is the first of what VanderMeer calls the Southern Reach trilogy, which will provide fodder for a series of films if the first is a success. But before any of that can happen, Rudin and studio partner Paramount will need to track down a writer, director and cast to bring the initial story to life.