Netflix has released the official Stowaway trailer for their upcoming sci-fi survival thriller film, starring Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson and Oscar nominee Toni Collette. The video features a three-man crew as they embark on a space mission to Mars. However, things don’t go as smoothly as they prepared for when they discover a stranger has accidentally boarded their ship. The film will be available for streaming on April 22, exclusively on Netflix. This project is Collette’s latest collaboration with the streaming service, who have worked together on 2018’s Wanderlust, 2019’s critically acclaimed Unbelievable and last year’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things. She is also set to star in Netflix’s upcoming thriller drama series titled Pieces of Her which is based on Karin Slaughter’s novel of the same name. On a mission headed to Mars, an unintended stowaway accidentally causes severe damage to the spaceship’s life support systems. Facing dwindling resources and a potentially grim outcome, a medical researcher emerges as the only dissenting voice against the clinical logic of both her commander and the ship’s biologist. The film is directed by Joe Penna from a screenplay he co-wrote with frequent collaborator Ryan Morrison. Penna and Morrison previously worked together on the filmmaker’s feature directorial debut titled Arctic, which first debuted at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The upcoming Netflix film has some similarities with the Mads Mikkelsen-led film as they both deal with the themes of survival and sacrifice.

“A production designer once told me, ‘never do a movie in a submarine or in space,'” Anna Kendrick recalls. She defied that warning, however, to make Stowaway, the galactic sci-fi thriller from director Joe Penna (Arctic) headed to Netflix on April 22. “It was so simple and so lean, but totally compelling,” Kendrick tells EW of her initial reaction to Penna and Ryan Morrison’s taut script, which inspired her to enter the cosmos despite that well-intentioned warning. The actress stars as Zoe, a medical researcher on a spaceship headed to Mars on a two-year mission. On board with her are the ship’s commander (Toni Collette) and a biologist (Daniel Dae Kim) — and an unexpected stowaway (Shamier Anderson), whom the crew find trapped inside the ship shortly into their mission. With the small craft outfitted only to support three passengers and some irreparable damage done to its life support systems, the crew faces an impossible problem, which only Zoe believes they can solve. “I had never really read anything like it,” adds Collette. “It is contained and the characters are confined but the questions posed, moral and otherwise, are vast and wide open.” While the concept of being trapped in a tiny space may resonate after a year in quarantine, “it’s ultimately about community, survival, and sacrifice,” Collette points out. “Who can’t relate to that at the moment?” For Kendrick, “the thing that feels really relevant is less the isolation of it and more that kind of problem-solving part of your brain that we were all engaging so vigorously in the first couple months of the pandemic,” she says. “Just that constant problem-solving of, ‘wait, okay, how do we fix this?’ And just when it seems like you’re onto something, there’s some very obvious fundamental problem.” The complete interview with Anna Kendrick and Toni Collette can be read over at Entertainment Weekly.

According to Variety, Toni Collette will make her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Lily King’s “Writers and Lovers.” The novel, a best-seller when it was released last year, tells the story of Casey Peabody, an underemployed, aspiring writer in 1990’s Boston whose world is rocked by a recent love affair and her mother’s sudden death. After she falls for two very different men at the same time, life gets complicated. Topic Studios, the producer of “Spotlight” and “The Mauritanian,” will back the project. Collette will write the screenplay with Nick Payne (“The Crown”). The actress will also produce under her Vocab Films banner alongside Susannah Grant (“Unbelievable”) and Sarah Timberman (“Masters of Sex,” “Unbelievable”); for Topic Studios, Michael Bloom, Maria Zuckerman and Ryan Heller will executive produce.

“I have been wanting to direct for quite some time but have been a bit busy with my day job,” Collette said in a statement. “l couldn’t be more thrilled to be bringing Lily King’s beautiful, funny, moving novel to filmic life. It’s an empowering story that speaks to me as a woman and an artist. It’s ultimately about coming to know and believe in oneself.  This is not always an easy feat, but the most important journey any person can take. It inspires me on so many levels.”

Collette and Topic Studios previously collaborated on “Dream Horse,” an upcoming drama that will be released by Bleecker Street later this year. “We were instantly charmed and then deeply moved by Lily King’s exquisite and heartfelt latest, and equally compelled by Toni and Nick’s vision,” Topic’s Zuckerman said. “We are honored to support Toni’s directorial debut and, with Susannah and Sarah, this is a dream team of partners with whom to bring this beautiful film to life.”

According to Yahoo, Gil Birmingham (Twilight, Hell or High Water), Terry O’Quinn (Perpetual Grace LTD, Patriot) and Calum Worthy (Out of Order, I Was A Rat) are set for recurring roles opposite Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote in Netflix’s dramatic thriller series Pieces of Her. Based on the 2018 book by bestselling crime author Karin Slaughter, the eight-episode series comes from an all-female creative team led by Charlotte Stoudt, Bruna Papandrea, Lesli Linka Glatter and Minkie Spiro, who will direct the season. Written by Stoudt, who serves as showrunner, Pieces of Her is set in a sleepy Georgia town where a random act of violence sets off an unexpected chain of events for 30-year-old Andy Oliver (Heathcote) and her mother Laura (Collette). Desperate for answers, Andy embarks on a dangerous journey across America, drawing her towards the dark, hidden heart of her family. Birmingham plays Charlie Bass, a protective family friend of Laura (Toni Collette) and Andy Oliver (Bella Heathcote). O’Quinn portrays Martin Queller, the charismatic, billionaire founder of pharmaceutical giant QuellCorp. Behind closed doors, Martin has an iron grip over his wife and three children Jasper, Andrew and Jane. Worthy plays young Jasper, the eldest of the three Queller siblings, Jasper is tortured by his relationship with his billionaire father – torn between proving his worth to the Queller name and protecting the world and those he loves most from it. In addition to Collette and Heathcote, they join previously announced Jessica Barden, David Wenham, Joe Dempsie, Jacob Scipio and Omari Hardwick. Stoudt executive produces with Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Casey Haver from Made Up Stories, and Karin Slaughter, Janice Williams, Spiro and Glatter.

Kids love the live-action educational show Odd Squad, and the parents of those kids are in for a treat the week of January 18, when Oscar-nominated actress Toni Collette guest stars on the Emmy-winning PBS Kids program. According to Fatherly, from Fred Rogers Productions, and targeted to viewers ages 6-9, Odd Squad follows young secret agents who aim to save the day using math when odd things occur, and their talents are really put to the test when Toni Collette arrives on the scene as a mysterious new villain called The Sand Queen. Fatherly is pleased to share an exclusive clip that features Collette joyfully chewing the scenery as The Sand Queen cackles madly, unleashes swirls of sand, tries to outrun the heroes in a funhouse, and uses a potato sack to ride down a slide. Collette never seems to play the same role twice, as evidenced by credits spanning from Muriel’s Wedding, The Sixth Sense, and I’m Thinking of Ending Things to About a Boy, Knives Out, and Unbelievable. Her previous family-friendly fare – including The Magic Pudding, The Boxtrolls, and Blinky Bill The Movie – has been of the animated variety. Whatever the reason Collette signed on, we’re excited to see her summon the sand – and the fun – on Odd Squad. You can watch a preview clip below, pictures have been added to the photo gallery.

The great joy of running a fansite/archive is to come across a rare video or appearance that I have never seen, or, even better, never even knew existed. Such is the case for this 1996 video of baby-faced Toni and Ben Mendelsohn promoting their film “Cosi” on the Australian talkshow “Hey Hey It’s Saturday”. If found the video courtesy a wonderful fansite on Mr. Mendelsohn, which you should pay a visit :-) The appearance can be found in the video archive, screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery.