Kathryn Bigelow to Direct ‘Aurora’ for Netflix, Based on David Koepp’s Upcoming Thriller Novel

Fresh off the heels of Jane Campion’s best director win at the Oscars, Kathryn Bigelow is also heading to Netflix for her next project. Bigelow, who became the first woman to win a directing Oscar in 2010 for “The Hurt Locker,” will direct “Aurora,” based on David Koepp’s upcoming thriller novel of the same name, for the streamer.

Koepp will also write the film’s screenplay, which will join his long list of credits including “Mission: Impossible” and “Jurassic Park.” The novel “Aurora” is set to be released on June 7 by Harper Collins.

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Per Netflix’s announcement of the project on Twitter, the film “follows characters who are coping with the collapse of the social order, set against a catastrophic worldwide power crisis.” The novel’s blurb sets the story in Aurora, Illinois, where Aubrey Wheeler and her teenage son are forced to fend for themselves in the wake of a massive power outage. Wheeler’s estranged brother, a Silicon Valley CEO, has built a bunker in the desert for such an apocalyptic event, and their reunion leads to reckonings on a global and personal scale.

Bigelow, who is repped by CAA, has not directed a feature since her 2017 film “Detroit,” which follows events associated with the 1967 race riots in the city. Since then, she’s directed an Apple commercial and a short film, but “Aurora” is the first confirmation of an upcoming feature from the Academy Award winner. Bigelow also made waves with her 2012 film “Zero Dark Thirty,” which earned a best picture nomination.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, which first broke the news of the project, “Aurora” will be produced Greg Shapiro, who also produced “The Hurt Locker,” and Gavin Polone, who has worked with Koepp on films including “Stir of Echoes” and “Secret Window.” Koepp is repped by CAA and Myman Greenspan.

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