Suppose operating an ultramarathon sounds terrifying? Filmmaker and runner Victoria Negri is popping that concern right into a psychological thriller, Extremely, set round Badwater 135, now 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 probably be our star for Extremely. Can not wait to go on this journey with you, Shai! We’re going to make a surprising movie!”
Woodley, 33, is finest recognized for taking part in Beatrice (“Tris”) Prior within the Divergent, Rebel and Allegiant movies. In Extremely, she is going to painting Eve, an athlete grieving the dying of her twin sister, who takes on the Badwater 135m, a 135-mile (215-km) ultramarathon by California’s Dying Valley, referred to as probably the most excessive endurance races on this planet.
The plot
In line with 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 components and intense bodily and psychological pressure of the race, she finds herself pursued by an unknown runner in white, constantly closing the hole between them as they surge by the desert. Attempting to outrun the ominous presence, Eve will face the darkest elements of herself and uncover what she is product of.”
Within the precise Badwater 135, most runners put on white or light-coloured full-coverage gear to mirror the extreme warmth of Dying Valley, the place temperatures can attain 54 C. The route begins at 86 metres under sea degree and climbs to 2,550m.
Based mostly 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 vogue mannequin Lucie Beatrix as she turns to ultrarunning to deal with habit and grief. The 38-year-old filmmaker can also be recognized 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 informed Selection. “Operating, the factor that gave him life, was taken from him.”
Negri has since discovered which 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 mentioned she created Extremely utilizing operating to discover how folks course of grief. “It’s by testing my limits in every of those epic races that I course of loss–bodily ache being the best metaphor for the emotional,” Negri mentioned. “Though my grief is all the time with me, I’ve discovered I’m sturdy sufficient to deal with it, to deal with something.”
In her Instagram announcement, Negri additionally thanked Badwater race director Chris Kostman, writing: “You’ll by no means know the extent to which inviting me out to Badwater so a few years in the past has really modified my life. I’m a greater individual due to ultras. Endlessly thanks.”
