When any adaptation of an acclaimed Dave Eggers novel makes it to the big screen, people take notice. When you cast Tom Hanks as one of the leads, people get interested. Then you add Emma Watson to it and people get thrilled.




Not-just-Hermoine herself, Emma Watson, has just been cast opposite Hanks in The Circle, which will be adapted and directed by James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now). She’ll play the lead character Mae, a young woman who gets the job of a lifetime, working for the massive media company The Circle. Think Facebook meets Google squared. It’s a company where everything seems to be going right and feels amazing—until, of course, it isn’t. From there, the story evolves into “a contemporary thriller about the perils of life in a digital age where personal data is collected, sifted and monetized and used for surveillance, rendering privacy obsolete,” according to the press release.

“Emma Watson is one of my favorite actors, and her incredible talent, sensitivity, and deep intelligence will bring an electric energy to The Circle,” said Ponsoldt. Filming starts this September for a likely 2016 release.


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