After the early success of his horror movie A Quiet Place (which he directed, co-wrote, and stars in), John Krasinski is taking on a new project. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he and his fellow A Quiet Place producers will adapt Cecil Castellucci’s Tor.com short story “We Have Always Lived on Mars,” about a descendant of an abandoned Mars colony who discovers that she can breathe the toxic atmosphere of her home planet.
Sources say that it was Krasinski who found the story and brought it to production company Platinum Dunes, which includes A Quiet Place producers Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller. Krasinski will be producing alongside Allyson Seeger, an executive at his company Sunday Night Productions. In contrast to A Quiet Place, Krasinski is not currently attached as director or writer; he will likely hire someone to adapt the story for the screen.
The project will be retitled Life on Mars. Here’s the synopsis from when it was originally published on Tor.com in 2013:
Nina, one of the few descendants of human colony on Mars that was abandoned by Earth, is surprised to discover that she can breathe the toxic atmosphere of the Martian surface. The crew, thinking that their attempts at terraforming and breeding for Martian adaptability have finally paid off, rejoice at the prospect of a brighter future. But Nina’s about to unlock the mystery of the disaster that stranded them on Mars… and nothing will ever be the same.
Paramount Pictures, which distributed A Quiet Place, is in negotiations to pick up this project.