See and Bliss star Nesta Cooper is adding screenwriter to her résumé as she gets set to adapt and star in MEM, a sci-fi thriller based on Bethany C. Morrow’s YA novel of the same name.
Los Angeles-based Marginal MediaWorks and Sphere Media are behind the book-to-screen adaptation to shoot in Montreal next year. The MEM project marks Marginal’s first international co-production and centers on a scientist in Montreal who discovers how to extract memories from people and turn them into zombie-like creatures known as Mems.
Cooper’s recent credits include Cold Copy, Roxine Helberg’s Tribeca journalism thriller, and Mike Cahill’s Bliss, co-starring Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek. She also starred in Apple TV+’s See and is set to appear in Ridley Scott’s upcoming crime drama Sinking Spring.
“I’m really grateful to be able to collaborate with a writer as prolific as Bethany,” said Cooper in a statement. “Despite the profound and oftentimes horror-like themes in her work, her voice offers an indescribable comfort. Her stories are so deep and full of life that they immerse you completely in their world.”
Sanjay M. Sharma and Milan Chakraborty are producing the MEM adaptation for Marginal, while Jennifer Kawaja and Peter Van Auker will produce for Sphere Media. Cooper and Morrow will executive produce.
Marginal’s film slate includes Kaminari, a Japanese co-production with Bandai Namco, written and directed by Mako Kamitsuna, and Cypher, a thriller starring Tierra Whack that won the Jury Prize for U.S. Fiction Film at Tribeca.
The upcoming film She Taught Love will be released in theaters and on Hulu on Sept. 27, 2024.
