GENSOCIAL
Following on swiftly from the recent release of the first images and poster for producer Michael Bay’s upcoming sci-fi thriller, Songbird, STXfilms has now debuted a brand-new trailer for the movie. While Songbird is being described as science fiction, there are more than enough familiar facts in the story to make even the bravest of us feel a little uneasy.
Depending on how you feel about movies that hold up a mirror directly in front of grim reality, the first line of the official synopsis for Songbird will either have the hairs standing up on the back of your neck, or it’ll produce a exasperated eye roll: “Four years into quarantine the virus has changed and so have we…”
In the terrifying thriller Songbird, the COVID-23 virus has mutated and the world is in its fourth year of lockdown. Infected Americans are ripped from their homes and forced into quarantine camps known as Q-Zones, from which there is no escape, as a few brave souls fight back against the forces of oppression. Amid this dystopian landscape, a fearless courier, Nico (K.J. Apa), who’s immune to the deadly pathogen, finds hope and love with Sara (Sofia Carson), though her lockdown prohibits them from physical contact. When Sara is believed to have become infected, Nico races desperately across the barren streets of Los Angeles in search of the only thing that can save her from imprisonment … or worse.
The first feature film to be made during COVID-19 in Los Angeles, and about the pandemic itself, Songbird also stars Bradley Whitford and Demi Moore as a wealthy couple who may hold the key to Nico’s mission; Alexandra Daddario as a singer enmeshed in a messy and forbidden affair; Paul Walter Hauser as a disabled veteran whose best friend – a drone named Max – is his eyes and ears to a world that has left him behind; Craig Robinson as Nico’s boss; and Peter Stormare as the corrupt head of the city’s “sanitation” department, which seizes those infected and transports them to the Q-Zone.”
Aside from the shots of typically bleak apocalyptic, military-ruled streets, Songbird looks like a very intimate affair. Full of close-ups and isolated characters confined to their rooms, the movie clearly looks like the love story that it is being described as, and simply uses the (arguably too close to home) pandemic scenario as its background.
While Songbird looks like a heavy watch, thanks in large part to its premise, star Sofia Carson has assured audiences that the movie is so much more than a pessimistic reminder of the state of things. “Even though this is the pandemic thriller and it’s suspenseful and terrifying, the heart of a story is hope,” she says. “It’s the hope that is represented in Sara’s character and the love between Sara and Nico. In our never-ending dark night, the songbird sings a song of hope.”
Directed by Adam Mason, who co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Boyes, and produced by Michael Bay, Adam Goodman, Andrew Sugerman and Eben Davidson, Songbird stars Riverdale’s KJ Apa and Adventures in Babysitting star Sofia Carson as the star-crossed couple at the movie’s center, with Craig Robinson, Bradley Whitford, Peter Stormare, Alexandra Daddario, Paul Walter Hauser and Demi Moore in supporting roles. Songbird does not yet have a release date. This comes to us from STXfilms.
