‘Simultaneous’: Sony Picks Up Rights to ‘Arrival’ Writer’s Suspenseful New Supernatural Thriller
“Simultaneous,” which was just published on October 28, is the debut novel of Eric Heisserer. It’s billed as a page-turner that blends the psychological and the supernatural, and its early reviews have been favorable. With such a cinema-ready foundation, it’s no surprise that a movie deal is already in the bag. But “Simultaneous” has something even greater going for it: its author is a screenwriter whose resume includes one of the most acclaimed sci-fi flicks of the 21st century.
A Past-Life Thriller from the Writer of a Time-Bending Film
Eric Heisserer, whose screenwriting career began 15 years ago, is best known for his work on sci-fi, horror, and thriller films. His credits include “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (2010), “Final Destination 5” (2011), “Hours” (his only directorial effort, in 2013), “Lights Out” (2016), and “Bird Box” (2018).
However, Heisserer’s most famous and certainly most celebrated script has been for the 2016 sci-fi drama “Arrival,” for which he received an Academy Award nomination. This film (an adaptation of a 1998 novella by Ted Chiang) belongs to what might be termed the “alien diplomacy” subgenre of extraterrestrial cinema. It stars Amy Adams as a linguist assigned to research and decipher the language of the first aliens ever to land on Earth. Ultimately (spoiler alert), she discovers that this language grants its users the ability to see into the future.
As its name suggests, “Simultaneous” is a thriller that derives much of its plot and suspense from the manipulation of temporal perception. It concerns a past-life regression therapist who teams up with a Homeland Security agent whose specialty is Predictive Analytics. They must work together to hunt down a serial killer who has mastered something akin to reincarnation and wields this skill to use his past lives to his advantage.
Production Breakdown – What We Know
The rights to “Simultaneous” were acquired on the same day the book was published by Sony Pictures, with which Heisserer has a first-look deal. (Under this deal, he is also developing and co-producing another sci-fi adaptation by the name of “Dissolution”). Heisserer and Carmen Lewis (also the co-producer of the Heisserer-written fantasy TV series “Shadow and Bone,” as well as the forthcoming sci-fi film adaptation “The Earthling“) will produce “Simultaneous” via their banner, the very aptly named Chronology.
Final Thoughts – The Promise of “Simultaneous”
Here’s a suggested logline for “Simultaneous”: “Seven” by way of “Arrival.” It’s a serial-killer thriller that pairs a connoisseur of supernatural recollection with an agent who is basically the closest asset the United States government currently has to one of those precogs from “Minority Report.”
It’s fascinating that this novel and forthcoming movie boast a trippy, high-concept premise to rival that of “Arrival” in a genre – the serial-killer flick – typically characterized by visceral grit. Last year’s masterful “Longlegs” showed that supernatural elements can merge very effectively with an atmosphere of police-procedural realism. We can’t be certain that the film adaptation of “Simultaneous” will be a similarly first-rate thriller, but with such a creative mind as Heisserer’s behind it, it’s hard to imagine it’ll be a boring one.
