Almost five years have gone by since it was announced that Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures were working on a new version of The Thing called Frozen Hell – and while that project still hasn’t made its way into production, Deadline reports that a sci-fi thriller called White Mars, which sounds quite similar to The Thing and is set to star Lucy Hale of Pretty Little Liars, Scream 4, Truth or Dare?, and Fantasy Island, will begin filming on November 11th. Filming will take place at Cinecittà Studios in Rome and the movie is going to be shot entirely in a virtual production environment.

Martin Owen (The Loneliest Boy in the World), who just co-directed a survival thriller called Above the Below with Idris Elba, will be directing White Mars from a screenplay by Matt Mitchell, Vicki Sargent, and Roo Berry. Set in an isolated Aquila Research Facility in Antarctica, White Mars follows microbiologist Sammie (Hale), as she fights to save her fellow crew members from a malevolent entity whose sole intention is to extinguish them all. Deadline says this will allow Hale to channel both Alien‘s Ellen Ripley and The Thing‘s RJ MacReady.

Future Artists Entertainment’s Matt Williams is producing the film with Neil Jones, as well as Steve Griffith and Steve Jelley from Singularity Entertainment. XYZ Films is co-financing with Singularity and is handling worldwide sales. This is the first feature for Singularity, “an entertainment company specializing in virtual production and streamlined processes for independent films.”

Hale had this to say about the project: “White Mars is an absolute psychological thrill ride, and I’m so excited to film this at the Cinecittà film stages in Rome. At the heart of this story is Sammie, a character I truly admire for her resilience and strength. I can’t wait to collaborate with Martin Owen, our incredible cast, and the entire team to bring this story to life.“

Matt Williams added, “I am excited for this to be the first of a multi-slate of films with the team at XYZ and Singularity. Together we will be bringing technologically advanced movie making to the independent market to compete visually with high end studio films. We are thrilled that Lucy is joining us on this action-packed sci-fi adventure as her character battles the sinister forces that threaten us all.“

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