Connelly Brings Earth to a Standstill

By Katey Rich

It's a slow week for movie news, given that most of the major studios are busy trying to get that pesky swarm of striking writers off their lots. Yes, there's been plenty of gloating about how they've stockpiled enough projects to, I don't know, fill the Hollywood Bowl with celluloid, but there seems to a be little breath-holding, at least in the trade papers, while the picket lines march on.

Still, there's at least one major(ish) announcement for today. Jennifer Connelly will be joining Keanu Reeves in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, the 1951 sci-fi movie that might embody what everyone thinks of when it comes to sci-fi of that era: silver spacesuits, theremins on the soundtrack, laser guns and all the rest. Reeves will play the alien Klaatu, who arrives on Earth to demand the end of all warfare, or else the Earth will be destroyed. Connelly plays a scientist who is the first person to make contact with the alien.

The casting for both parts seems almost so perfect as to be typecasting-- Reeves was pretty much born to play a cold space alien, and Connelly is getting good at playing a woman who's tangentially part of action mostly created by men (Hulk, Blood Diamond). The Day the Earth Stood Still is set for release next December, a short turnaround for a film that will presumably be effects-heavy (the Earth, after all, has to stand still) and an odd time for a sci-fi movie in general. The closest model for this release strategy is I Am Legend, a sci-fi adaptation set for release in mid-December this year. If Legend succeeds as holiday fare, we can probably count on Earth being only the first of a series of big-budget sci-fi releases during that time. And since it's almost impossible to imagine Legend flopping at this point, well, welcome to Christmas, Keanu!