Following the disappointing 2017 The Mummy reboot, Universal’s vision to start up an interconnected universe in which their movie monsters could interact in was scraped - including an Invisible Man re-imagining starring Johnny Depp. That being said, not all future plans for the creepy film icons are totally dead, though, as a new Invisible Man project helmed by Upgrade’s Leigh Whannell is in the works with Elisabeth Moss tapped to star. Of course, this has led to a lot of questions regarding the role that the Handmaid’s Tale actress would play, and she recently addressed those queries in an interview:
I haven’t gotten into what I’m allowed to say yet. I’m pretty sure I can say that I’m not ‘The Invisible Man.’ That would be weird. It’s a little bit of a different take on it. Part of the reason why I wanted to do it is I actually felt like it was a really feminist story of female empowerment and a victim kind of overcoming something. I don’t even know what I’m allowed to say about it! I’m not The Invisible Man, but there is an Invisible Man — if that makes any sense.
Interesting! As Elisabeth Moss touched on in her interview with The Hollywood Reporter, it would be strange if a movie about the legendary “Invisible Man” was switched to a woman. Then again, Hollywood has been prone to gender-swapping their franchises with female leads so jumping to that conclusion especially when the movie doesn’t yet have a male lead was a fair assumption. But apparently it's not to be.
The Mad Men actress is clearly trying not to give anything away about her upcoming film, but from what we can gather her character is a victim of sorts (maybe of the Invisible Man's?), and this movie will see her take on an empowering character arc where she’ll overcome adversity. Elisabeth Moss is known for taking on roles with feminist themes, so her decision to sign on to this high-profile movie is made more clear through her recent quote.
The original Universal project led by Johnny Depp was a completely different script with planned ties to other “Dark Universe” films such as The Mummy. Ed Solomon, who also worked on Men In Black and Now You See Me, was signed on to write the previous project before the writer/director behind Insidious: Chapter 3 and Upgrade took over. The new movie, produced by Jason Blum, is set to start filming later this year.
Blumhouse is also reportedly considering plans to revitalize franchises for Scream and Hellraiser, along with a more chilling take on Fantasy Island. Elisabeth Moss played a small role in Jordan Peele’s hit horror flick Us and currently stars in indie drama Her Smell about a punk rocker who struggles with addiction as she tries to revitalize her music career - which is in select theaters now. Hopefully we'll get to hear more about her role in The Invisible Man and more details about the project in general in the coming weeks and months, so be sure to stay tuned for all of the latest updates here on CinemaBlend.
