Kyra Sedgwick to Direct “Space Oddity,” Alexandra Shipp & Madeline Brewer Will Star

Kyra Sedgwick has lined up her next directing gig. She will follow up her DGA Award-nominated directorial debut, “Story of a Girl,” with “Space Oddity,” Rebecca Banner’s 2016 Black List screenplay. Deadline broke the news.

Slated to begin production this month, “Space Oddity” tells the story of Alex (Kyle Allen) “who, after giving up on Earth and deciding to leave it all behind for a one-way mission to Mars, develops an unexpected romance with Daisy (Alexandra Shipp), the enigmatic town newcomer, which forces him to choose between an uncertain journey to the stars and an even more uncertain journey of the heart,” the source details.

Madeline Brewer, best known for her roles in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Hustlers,” and “Orange is the New Black,” will play Liz, Alex’s sister.

“As soon as I read ‘Space Oddity,’ I knew this was a film I had to direct,” Sedgwick told Deadline. “This family is so beautifully flawed, so perfectly human. The humor and the heart jumped off the page.” She emphasized that she launched her production company, Big Swing, “to tell just this kind of story – one that centers on hope but never shies away from the struggle that makes us all part of this fragile experiment on Earth. And there is no better place to film this story than in the beautiful state of Rhode Island.”

Sedgwick received an Emmy and another four nominations for her leading role in TNT drama “The Closer,” which she also exec produced. “Call Your Mother” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” are among her more recent on-screen credits.

Shipp’s credits include the “X-Men” franchise, “Love, Simon,” and “Straight Outta Compton.”