HOME TRAILERS RELEASE DATES PODCAST REVIEWS POSTERS INTERVIEWS MOVIE NEWS ABOUT US APPS FSnetwork

LATEST NEWS

Guy Pearce & Maggie Grace Starring in Luc Besson's 'Lock Out'

by Alex Billington
August 4, 2010
Source: The Wrap

Before we get too far into this, Luc Besson is not directing, but he co-wrote the script and is producing the film just like he did with Taken. The Wrap reports that EuropaCorp has cast Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Peter Stormare and Tom Hollander in an upcoming sci-fi action movie called Lock Out. The film takes place in a prison orbiting 50 miles above Earth, housing 500 of the most dangerous prisoners who are kept asleep by sophisticated methods until they suddenly awaken, causing all hell to break loose. It sounds like one of those sci-fi "supermax" prison movies, like they tried with DC Comics, but without any supervillains.

The budget for Lock Out is expected to be in the $30 million range, and production is scheduled to begin at the end of next month in Belgrade. That definitely means all these actors are locked in (pun not intended) and will be headlining this sci-fi flick. Stephen St. Leger (Prey Alone) and cinematographer James Mather will direct from a script they co-wrote with Luc Besson. I don't know about everyone else, but I love these smaller-budget sci-fi concepts that Besson gets behind. He is still one of my favorite filmmakers and even though he's not directing, his influence will definitely be felt. We'll keep an eye out for this, so stay tuned!

Update: Deadline has a bit more information about the characters and the plot of this movie beyond what was mentioned originally. Although Maggie Grace already starred as the kidnapped-girl in Taken, they say Lock Out "transports a Taken premise to outer space." Pearce plays a man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the US. He's offered his freedom if he can rescue the president's daughter from an outer space prison taken over by violent inmates. So does that help make this sound any better or worse?

Pin It

Related categories: Casting, Movie News, Opinions

beavis

if it were a hospital for the criminally INSANE.........then i'd be interested.
silver

why would the president's daughter be in a high-tech supermax prison. Maybe it would be cool if she actually committed treason or something. I can't think of any other reason that would not be lame.
Linkfx

Mmm Maggie grace is super hot and that's good enough for me
beavis

i just read the update on the plot - i hate it. it's threadbare ridiculous..........what the hell is the presidents daughter doing in an outer-space prison housing the most dangerous criminals in the world?.........this movie plot (and i use that term loosely) is an insult to anyone who watches movies - please, this HAS to be a joke. i'm not interested.
J. L.

Really? The president's daughter? Really? Not interested.
whomever

Dig all of the players involved. Premise sounds a bit weak, but remotely interesting because it's in space. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, and look forward to it.
Xerxex

I'm timid to hand my support out for this, as beavis said it sounds kinda preposterous! Perhaps written it sounds daft, but on screen it will amaze? The cast is great and its good to see Grace getting a role, she was really good towards the end of Taken so we'll see.
Eli

Sad sad sad. I like maggie grace because of lost. Guy Pearce is the overlooked acting genius that always seems to end up in some boring or undesirable flick. I'm still looking foward to Animal Kingdom and recently saw him in The Time Machine again. Stop giving so much praise to the effin co writer of shit. you guys did the same thing with del toro on Dark. The premise of Lock out seems a little too unrealistic. why would you keep 500 masterminds together 50 miles from earth. Surely nearby there would be a friggin armory that they can overtake. The update you posted only made it sound worse. How many times have we seen an innocent guy fight for his life or freedom? sci fi does nothing for that concept. Spice it up a little. How about (bare with me on this) he's sent there to the prision to exract an inmate whose past can save him from his present prediciment. Pearce must rescue this particular prisioner before the outbreak happens; it was foreseen by certain higherups. This is not made known until later on by the audience. However, he was sent there after alledgedly conspiring against the US. Did he really? There is a prisioner who fronts for his 'leader' who remains unknown. He threatens to penetrate the white house security by people his boss connected him with. Who can be trusted? The president's daughter is the target. She is kidnapped. After all the cool fight scenes and everything and using the prisioner to hack a system that has been deemed forbidden, the daughter is kidnapped. So, with a hole in secret service and the country crippled and fearful from the dangerous prisioners, the daughter is transferred to the prision. Once there, pearce and the girl prepare to use the system to disappear forever because they were in love. There was of course an alterior reason to activate the system which remains concealed. But, the middle guy who did the kidnapping wants to be paid. That is when the fight actually begins in the prision. Pearce was his boss and he knew the only way to gain access to the only guy who knew the system was to be put in the prision. So, he did in some respects conspire against the Gov't. The final battle begins when the secret service pulls itself together under a new leader and they make a trip to the prision after aprehending many of criminals on earth. Pearce was said to be the most dangerous and whoever caught him would gain their freedom. The system was going to be used to transport the lovers to another dimension or something like that. And, it turns out that the prisioner used to unlock the system was his brother. Pearce and his brother were scientists who were, in the past, freedom fighters; freedom from opression. His brother was accused of conspiracy when he created the system and imprisioned. Pearce got himself sent to prision to free his brother to activate the system. He continued to use his connections to get from the prision to the station where the system was. The three do escape to the past where they'd have plenty of time to live their lives away from the oppression of the current gov't. They would see it fall but they would be old by time it happened. Why leave the world to suffer? Not to save it, but just to escape.That would be the theme. Crazy but it's better than the crap they're tryin to pull.
http://twitter.com/JOHNSTAMOS John Stamos

nice wall of text Eli. i'm in for this before hearing anymore. GUY PEARCE is definitely in my top five actors. +2 Luc Besson is underrated. +.5 this'll be an awesome lil indie.
Cody w

Guy Pearce to me has always been one of the most underrated actors in hollywood, its like he needs a better agent or something because I feel he hasnt stretched his acting legs at all since Memento. Except maybe that aussie crime thriller(forget its name) Ive yet to see that though.
Eli

Haha. I've had this thing with time travel in a lot of my sci-fi recently so I figured, why not? This was spur of the moment so it kinda sucks. I wish they would use this though, cause honestly what they're offering sounds like an 80's sci fi gone horribly wrong.
Luke

Oh i love Escape from New York.... oh wait different movie, got confused by the same exact story line, except its space not newyork
bozo

@Luke - Escape from New York, in space, with Luc Besson producing!!?!? Win win situation buddy!!!