Anna Kendrick
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Anna Kendrick is headed into outer space.  She has just signed on for sci-fi film ‘Stowaway’ from Brazilian director Joe Penna.  Kendrick will play the chief medical researcher on board a Mars-bound spaceship, on which a stowaway is discovered.  With limited resources, it seems the rest of the ship’s crew votes to dispose of the stranger, with Kendrick’s character being the only one opposing them.

Here’s the official synopsis for the movie:

Shortly after takeoff, the crew of a spaceship headed to Mars discovers an accidental stowaway.
Too far from Earth to turn back and with resources quickly dwindling, the ship’s medical researcher
(Kendrick) emerges as the only dissenting voice against the group consensus that has already decided
in favor of a grim outcome.

Director Penna’s first feature film, ‘Arctic’ starring Mads Mikkelsen was an official selection at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  Bleecker Street Media has picked up the North American distribution rights.  Penna wrote the screenplay for ‘Arctic’ with Ryan Morrison and they re-teamed for ‘Stowaway’.  Penna found early success on Youtube, through his MysteryGuitarMan channel.  Production studio XYZ will produce.

Kendrick was most recently seen in the Paul Feig comedy noir ‘A Simple Favor’, which costarred Blake Lively.  She is best known for fronting the popular ‘Pitch Perfect’ franchise as Beca, portraying Bella’s human friend Jessica in the ‘Twilight’ movies and for voicing Poppy in the ‘Trolls’ series.  She is starring in the Disney original movie ‘Noelle’ with Billy Eichner, Bill Hader and Shirley MacLaine, which will premier on Disney Play, the company’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service.  Among her other films are ‘Up in the Air’, ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’, ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’, ‘End of Watch’, ‘Into the Woods’, ‘The Hollars’, and ‘The Accountant’.

Kendrick is preparing to record ‘Trolls: World Tour’ and recently wrapped an unnamed comedy directed by Christopher Morris (‘Veep’), which also features Miles Robbins, Denis O’Hare and Jim Gaffigan.

It appears that ‘Stowaway’ is in the earliest stages of development.  In fact, ‘Arctic’ has not even been scheduled for release in the US, so presumably once that happens, Penna and Morrison will be ready to move on to their next project.

Check back for updates.