It's a move that reteams him with Steven Spielberg, who executive produced the Universal movie through his Amblin Entertainment banner. It also reunites him with Jurassic's Frank Marshall, who will produce with Trevorrow and production banner Big Beach. Connolly is executive producing.

Plot details are being kept secret, but the project is said to have its roots in an earlier Trevorrow-Connolly project titled The Ambassador.

That project was intended to act as a follow-up to the duo's acclaimed indie Safety Not Guaranteed and set up at Big Beach, the shingle run by Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub, as a low-budget sci-fi thriller. Ambassador told of a U.N. worker in a department that was to represent humankind in the event of alien contact. The man falls in love with a mysterious woman who turns out to be an alien.

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Life is the Ambassador kernel reconceived. Sources say the tone harkens to Safety Not Guaranteed and is a big idea surrounded by rich characters.

Intelligent Life is also noteworthy as it marks the first project to be picked up by Michael Wright, DreamWorks' newly arrived CEO.

Trevorrow is repped by Verve, 3 Arts Entertainment and Ginsburg Daniels.

Email: borys.kit@thr.com

Twitter: @borys_kit