Frank Grillo and Maria Bakalova Team Up for Jordan Downey’s Override, a Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Thriller

Frank Grillo and Maria Bakalova are teaming up for a sci-fi thriller called Override, and yes, they are already on set in Belfast. Variety broke the news, and I did not need much more than those two names to pay attention.

What is Override?

Director Jordan Downey (he made the gnarly 2018 fantasy indie The Head Hunter) is behind this one, co-writing with Jackson Murray and Kevin Stewart. The setup is clean and mean: Bakalova plays a futuristic soldier who gets left for dead. Her only shot at staying alive is a battlefield A.I. that shows up as a so-called synthetic angel, played by Grillo. The clock is literally ticking as she tries to outlast a mortal wound. Variety called it a "pulse-pounding thriller," which tracks with that premise.

Who is making it and how it is getting sold

• Director: Jordan Downey, co-writer with Jackson Murray and Kevin Stewart
• Leads: Maria Bakalova as the wounded soldier; Frank Grillo as the synthetic angel A.I.
• Producer: James Harris via Tea Shop Productions
• Financing: Christian Mercuri's Capstone
• Sales: Capture (the new Capstone Global/Signature Entertainment joint venture launched earlier this year) is taking Override to buyers at the American Film Market this month
• Status: Filming now in Belfast

The reunion angle

Grillo and Bakalova actually worked together before, sort of: both did voice roles on James Gunn's animated series Creature Commandos, which lives inside the new DCU rollout. Nice crossover trivia if you are keeping score.

Why I am in

Grillo thrives in this lane — high-concept, clock-ticking action — from Boss Level to Copshop to his trips through the Marvel and Purge universes. Bakalova has been quietly stacking genre and comedy work since Borat, and she is always interesting when she swings toward darker material. Downey getting a bigger canvas after The Head Hunter is a smart play; that movie squeezed a lot out of very little.

Where you have seen them

Grillo's recent and notable credits: Boss Level, Tulsa King, Peacemaker, Superman, Werewolves, The Resurrection of Charles Manson, Copshop, Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, This Is the Night, Point Blank, Wheelman, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Endgame, The Purge: Anarchy, The Purge: Election Year, The Grey, Warrior — and that is not even the full pile.

Bakalova outside of Borat: Bodies Bodies Bodies, The Bubble, Unfrosted, The Apprentice, plus voice work in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

"Synthetic angel" as the latest battlefield A.I. is a great, ominous touch — very much the kind of tech you are glad to have until it starts making its own calls.

Bottom line: Override sounds lean, mean, and right in both leads' wheelhouses. If Capture can close deals at AFM fast, expect this one to move quickly.