Luc Besson already has Scarlett Johansson attached to star in his latest high-concept action thriller Lucy. But that’s not enough star power for the French director, and he’s now locking down the services of Morgan Freeman for a lead role.
Lucy, which Besson also wrote, finds Johansson as a young woman forced to become a drug mule. When the narcotics in her system leak, she becomes imbued with ass-kicking abilities, telekinesis and total control over her emotions and pain responses - which is a significant improvement on the death-by-overdose that drug mules could usually expect in those circumstances.
Unfortunately, there's a catch. The new powers also come with a ticking clock of death and so she seeks out a professor (Freeman) who has long studied evolution and the chemistry of the brain in the hopes that he can help her.
Freeman’s no stranger to the Besson-driven strain of action movies with a twist: he starred in Unleashed, which Besson produced. With the director finishing up work on his latest, mob action comedy The Family, he’s also preparing to shoot Lucy soon. As for Morgan, he’s next on screen in Now You See Me (out July 3) followed by **Last Vegas **(November 8) and is at work on Wally Pfister’s directorial debut Transcendence.