After weeks of speculation and including an interview in which the director came close to confirming it, Emma Watson has officially joined The Circle with Tom Hanks. The film will be the latest from The Spectacular Now director James Ponsoldt.
The Circle was initially set to star Alicia Vikander, but she never worked out as she had other commitments. Then, there were rumors that Watson would take the gig and Ponsoldt came close to confirming that in an interview with Collider last week.
“I am a massive, massive fan of Emma,” the director told the site. “She’s one of my favorite actors. I mean, when we were first talking casting, I didn’t think that it would work out timing-wise because she’s doing Beauty and the Beast, but it sort of re-shifted and when we realized their schedule, we realized that it would be a possibility.”
Well, it looks like everything will work out because TheWrap reported today that Watson has definitely signed on to do it after she finishes work on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
The Circle is based on the Dave Eggers novel about a young woman (Watson) who gets a job in the Internet monopoly called the Circle. There, she meets a strange older man (Hanks). The film will cover the dangers of a world where our personal data is held in one place.
Producers include Hanks’ Playtone partner Gary Goetzman and Likely Story’s Anthony Bergman. Ponsoldt is also co-producing and wrote the script. Production is expected to finish in time to let Hanks make Clint Eastwood’s Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger film.
Ponsoldt is best known for helming The Spectacular Now and just directed Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel in the David Foster Wallace biopic The End of the Tour. That film hits theaters on July 31.
image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com