Overview
- Multiple outlets reported Monday that Keanu Reeves has been attached to star in Maelstrom after Alan Ritchson exited the project for undisclosed reasons.
- Jaume Collet-Serra is set to direct and Jeff Robinov is producing the film as part of a reported first project under Robinov’s deal with Netflix.
- The story follows a federal marshal protecting an arms dealer’s fiancée through one night as a hurricane cuts communications and attackers close in, a premise first sold as a spec to Warner Bros. in 1993.
- The current screenplay credit goes to Mark Bianculli, who is revising the original 1993 draft by the late Gregory Fitzpatrick, and Netflix and Reeves’ representatives declined to comment on the casting change or production timing.
- The casting swap underscores Netflix’s strategy of reviving dormant high-concept spec scripts with bankable talent, and it could shift both Reeves’ and Ritchson’s near-term schedules as the project moves toward pre-production.