A prison that encourages drug use? Well, that could be fiction for now. Netflix has adapted George Saunders' New York short story "Escape from Spiderhead," about two inmates (played by Jurnee Smollett and Miles Teller) dealing with their past crimes while living in a state-of-the-art penitentiary run by a brilliant visionary (Chris Hemsworth) who experiments on inmates with psychedelic drugs.
“Spiderhead” premieres June 17 on the streamer. The compensation for being a test subject is a commuted prison sentence, but when the open-concept prison is challenged, the experiments begin to push the limits of free will. The psychological thriller is directed by Joseph Kosinski ("Top Gun: Maverick," "TRON: Legacy") and written by producer Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick ("Deadpool," "Zombieland").
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Saunders
Stars: Miles Teller, Chris Hemsworth, Charles Parnell
Director Kosinski revealed that the soundtrack to the pop classic, with tracks including Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" and Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams," came to him while he was at the dentist.
"I was listening to something like Christopher Cross while I was getting my tooth drilled," Kosinski told Entertainment Weekly. "It felt interesting for [Hemsworth's character] to create this air of relaxation and good times in a facility that's doing something much more nefarious."
Star Hemsworth also produces; the cast of the set is completed by Mark Paguio and Tess Haubrich. Kosinski's blockbuster "Top Gun: Maverick," also starring Teller, will premiere at Cannes this year before opening May 27.
Kosinski called the "Top Gun" sequel "hard-earned" with intricate aerobatics that resulted in 14-hour workdays. "It just took a long time to get it all," he told Empire Magazine. “Months and months of aerial shooting. We shot as much footage as all three Lord of the Rings movies combined. I think it was 800 hours of footage."
Teller plays the son of the late supporting character Goose (played by Anthony Edwards in the 1986 original), Maverick's (Tom Cruise) best friend. Teller noted that the actors had to be "incredibly efficient" during production. "Most of the time, you had to create an imaginary line of sight to where another plane would be, and when you say a line, your face better tell the story," Teller explained. "The sun must be at the right angle."