Taika Waititi’s ‘Klara and the Sun’ May Have Found Two of Its Leads

Taika Waititi’s upcoming project is going to break all of our hearts: the acclaimed director will be helming Klara and the Sun, an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s sci fi novel about a young robot and her human companion. The project is starting to come together, with two exciting potential casting announcements.

This morning, Deadline reported that Amy Adams (Arrival) is in talks to star as the mother of Josie, a teenager with a debilitating illness. Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) will reportedly play Klara, a sentient robot who is tasked with being Josie’s companion.

What is Klara and the Sun about?

Throughout his career as a director, which includes projects like Our Flag Means Death and Jojo Rabbit, Waititi has demonstrated his ability to tell both comic and tragic stories—which makes Klara and the Sun a perfect fit.

In Ishiguro’s 2021 novel, Klara is a type of robot called an Artificial Friend, a popular playmate for wealthy children and teens. When Josie chooses Klara as her companion, Klara finds out that Josie is terminally ill. As the two of them bond, Klara begins to believe that she might know a cure for Josie’s illness. The novel is a poignant blend of mysticism and science fiction, and the ending—which doesn’t go in the direction you might think!—is devastating.

Who else is in the cast of Klara and the Sun?

Right now, only Ortega and Adams have been announced, and they’re not confirmed yet. We don’t know who will play Josie, Josie’s dad, Josie’s childhood friend Rick, or the other characters from the novel.

What might Ortega bring to Klara’s character? What makes Klara so unforgettable is her big-heartedness and spirituality. Even as the humans around her dismiss her worldview as superstition and naiveté, they can’t help but listen to her, especially as they grow more desperate to help Josie. Klara is also a fascinating window into the unsettling world of the novel, which we get in bits and pieces through her limited point of view. I can see Ortega nailing this role.

When is the release window for Klara and the Sun?

Klara and the Sun isn’t in production yet, so it’ll be a while before the film is released. In the meantime, why not check out Ishiguro’s novel? It’ll make you cry, but it might also make you love this big, broken world a little more.

(featured image: Knopf)