Suppose working an ultramarathon sounds terrifying? Filmmaker and runner Victoria Negri is popping that worry right into a psychological thriller, Extremelyset round Badwater 135now starring Divergent‘s Shailene Woodley.
Author and director Negri took to Instagram on Tuesday to announce the casting. “Past thrilled to announce Shailene Woodley will likely be our star for Extremely. Can’t wait to go on this journey with you, Shai! We’re going to make a shocking movie!”
Woodley33, is finest identified for taking part in Beatrice (“Tris”) Prior within the Divergent, Rebel and They allege movies. In Extremely, she’s going to painting Evean athlete grieving the loss of life of her twin sister, who takes on the Badwater 135m, a 135-mile (215-km) ultramarathon by means of California’s Loss of life Valley, often called some of the excessive endurance races on the planet.
The plot
In response to Selection, the thriller follows Eve as she battles each the scorching situations and her personal thoughts all through the race. The synopsis reads: “As Eve takes on the unforgiving parts and intense bodily and psychological pressure of the race, she finds herself pursued by an unknown runner in white, persistently closing the hole between them as they surge by means of the desert. Attempting to outrun the ominous presence, Eve will face the darkest components of herself and uncover what she is fabricated from.”
Within the precise Badwater 135, most runners put on white or light-coloured full-coverage gear to mirror the extraordinary warmth of Loss of life Valley, the place temperatures can attain 54 C. The route begins at 86 metres beneath sea stage and climbs to 2,550m.
Primarily based on life experiences
From New Haven, Conn., Negri, an ultrarunner herself, has accomplished 4 50-mile races and two 100-mile races. She additionally directed the ultramarathon documentary brief Private Finest (2024) which follows style mannequin Lucie Beatrix as she turns to ultrarunning to deal with dependancy and grief. The 38-year-old filmmaker can also be identified for Gold Star (2017) and Mermaid, Bitch (2025); Extremely is her second function movie.
Negri says Extremely is predicated on her personal experiences, which, whereas tragic, had been additionally transformative. “My father was a distance runner, left paralyzed by a stroke,” she advised Selection. “Working, the factor that gave him life, was taken from him.”
Negri has since discovered that means within the endurance sport herself, racing occasions such because the Badwater 51-miler in March and final week’s Javelina Jundred 100-miler in Arizona, which she accomplished in 25:35:36. She stated she created Extremely utilizing working to discover how individuals course of grief. “It’s by means of testing my limits in every of those epic races that I course of loss–bodily ache being the best metaphor for the emotional,” Negri stated. “Though my grief is all the time with me, I’ve discovered I’m robust sufficient to deal with it, to deal with something.”
In her Instagram announcement, Negri additionally thanked Badwater race director Chris Kostmanwriting: “You’ll by no means know the extent to which inviting me out to Badwater so a few years in the past has actually modified my life. I’m a greater particular person due to ultras. Ceaselessly thanks.”
