Shailene Woodley, best known for her performances in "Divergent", "The Fault in Our Stars", and HBO's "Big Little Lies", has officially signed on to lead "Ultra", an upcoming psychological thriller set against the punishing backdrop of Death Valley's Badwater 135 Ultramarathon - often described as the world's toughest footrace.
The film is written and directed by Victoria Negri (Gold Star), who draws deeply from her own life experiences and passion for long-distance running. The project will be produced by Allison Rose Carter and Jon Read for Savage Rose Films (Everything Everywhere All at Once), along with Iris Torres (In Dubious Battle). Executive producers include Andrew Kortschak and Lisa Ciuffetti for End Cue (The History of Sound) and Toby Halbrooks for Sailor Bear (The Green Knight).
In "Ultra", Woodley stars as Eve, a woman grappling with the devastating loss of her twin sister. Seeking both escape and redemption, Eve enters one of the most grueling endurance events on Earth: the Badwater 135 Ultramarathon, a 135-mile race across Death Valley, where temperatures soar as high as 129°F. As Eve pushes her body to the brink, the race becomes a harrowing metaphor for grief and endurance. She soon realizes she's not alone on the trail - a mysterious runner dressed in white begins closing in, mirroring her every move. What begins as a physical challenge transforms into a psychological battle as Eve races not only through the desert but against the haunting specter of her own trauma.
Writer-director Victoria Negri described Ultra as a deeply personal film inspired by her own experiences with loss and ultramarathon running, saying, "Tragic circumstances, for better or worse, are transformative, and Ultra is a film born from that experience. My father was a distance runner, left paralyzed by a stroke. Running - the thing that gave him life - was taken from him. He suffered and finally succumbed. While finding my emotional footing, I grew to become an ultrarunner, since completing two 100-mile races, numerous 50 milers, and many marathons. It's through testing my limits in each of these epic races that I process loss - physical pain being the greatest metaphor for the emotional."
Negri added that Ultra will serve as both a psychological and emotional journey, depicting "a visceral descent into inner turmoil, as our protagonist Eve is unable to confront the loss that chases her down in the unforgiving desert of Death Valley, during the world's toughest footrace."
Recently, Woodley joined Lindsay Lohan in Hulu's upcoming limited series "Count My Lies".
Tags: shailene woodley, ultra, victoria negri