Emmerich plans movie on alien invasion

Roland Emmerich is returning to the theme with a movie on alien invasion.

Los Angeles: He has a penchant for disaster themes and director Roland Emmerich, who destroyed the White House in one of his films, is returning to the theme with a movie on alien invasion.

It will be a small budget film for the `Independence Day` director. `The Zone`, his new movie, will be based on the concept of "found footage", popularised by horror movies like `Blair Witch Project` and `Paranormal Activity`, the Hollywood Reporter said. The plot details are being kept under wraps but sources say `Zone` revolves around an alien invasion and will have relatively unknown faces. The `2012` director has reportedly cast two actors, one playing a haggard journalist in his 40s or 50s, the other a black man in his early to mid 20`s, the cameraman. Emmerich is known for his huge budget disaster spectacles but for this movie he is planning to spend only USD 5 million. French writer-director Guillaume Tunzini penned the script and Loucas George is a producer on the picture, which will begin shooting mid-November. Making `Zone` may signal a trend for Emmerich in that the disaster film maestro is embracing moviemaking with more modest budgets. The director is currently working on `Anonymous`, a political thriller set in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. PTI