Elisabeth Moss Says The Invisible Man Reboot Will 'Scare You To Death'
She inspired you with Mad Men. She empowered you with The Handmaid's Tale. Next, Elisabeth Moss will frighten the living daylights out of you with the new take on The Invisible Man.
Following her win for Best Performance in a Show at the 2019 Movie & TV Awards, Moss had a chat with MTV News correspondent Josh Horowitz about the hottest project on her docket: the Invisible Man reboot in development at Universal and Blumhouse with writer-director Leigh Whannell at the helm. The actress, who won the golden popcorn statue at the awards ceremony for her role as Offred/June on The Handmaid's Tale, understandably couldn't reveal a whole lot about the project, but she did make it crystal-clear that you'll have many sleepless nights after seeing The Invisible Man.
Asked whether the new Invisible Man would scare people silly, Moss answered, "We hope so. We hope we're going to scare you to death. Yeah, we're gonna try to make it really scary."
Past reports covering the Invisible Man refresh hinted that Whannell and the powers that be at Blumhouse and Universal were looking to take a unique approach the source material — the H. G. Wells novel from 1897 and the original Invisible Man film from 1933. Moss confirmed that the upcoming Invisible Man feature will indeed feel "very different."
"I was really excited about that," she said. "It's like a feminist, female empowerment story, and it's really brilliantly written by Leigh Whannell, and I'm really excited."
The Invisible Man reboot has been in the works for a while now, with Universal announcing the project in January of this year as part of the studio's endeavor to create director-driven movies instead of continuing on with its planned Dark Universe, which shuttered after just one monster movie reimagining — Tom Cruise's The Mummy. Universal partnered up with horror aficionado and film producer extraordinaire Jason Blum to get the wheels on The Invisible Man turning, and it was first reported that Johnny Depp would step into the titular role. By March, though, Depp was no longer attached to the film and Moss was in talks to join the cast. Many believed that perhaps the Whannell-directed Invisible Man would gender-swap the lead character, but Moss came forward in April to state that that isn't the case.
"I'm pretty sure I can say that I'm not the Invisible Man. That would be weird. It's a little bit of a different take on it. Part of the reason why I wanted to do it is I actually felt like it was a really feminist story of female empowerment and a victim kind of overcoming something," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "I'm not the Invisible Man, but there is an Invisible Man — if that makes any sense."
Regardless of who she plays (some reports peg her as set for the role of Cecilia Kass), Moss is sure to shine in The Invisible Man. She clearly has the acting chops that a movie of this caliber requires, and if her performance in Jordan Peele's astonishing horror flick Us tells us anything, it's that Moss knows how to terrify.
The Invisible Man is scheduled to begin production in July. The film will hit theaters on March 13, 2020.