Marjane Satrapi Film Casts Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick

If you are wondering how you didn’t know until now that Marjane Satrapi was working on another live action film, and that it wasn’t based on one of her graphic novels, and that it was a psychological thriller starring Ryan Reynolds, then join the club.

Satrapi’s Persepolis, both the graphic novel and the movie, were simply masterpieces, but the artist has not strayed from telling (beautiful) stories of her extended family and life in Iran before, so far as I know. According to Deadline, The Voices is a psychological thriller about a “lovable but strange bathtub factory worker” whose relationship with his crush turns “murderous,” and the fantastical path he takes to salvation, guided by his evil talking pet cat and good talking pet dog.

Honestly, the talking animals are the thing in this project that seem most in line with Satrapi’s earlier work, which has always contained occasional elements of the surreal. The script itself is by Michael R. Perry of Paranormal Activity, and is backed by Mandalay Vision, who, with Sleepy Hollow under their belts, are no strangers to horror/comedy.

Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick have officially joined the movie today, though there’s no word on who the Hansel and Gretel and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World actresses will be playing, however. There’s no release date for the film yet, but with a start date soon, perhaps we’ll see it late this year?

(via Deadline.)