Oscar winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) and two-time Emmy nominee Betty Gilpin (GLOW) are in negotiations to join Chris Pratt in the sci-fi thriller Ghost Draft from Skydance and Paramount, Collider has confirmed.

Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie) is directing the film, which hails from screenwriters Zach Dean and Bill Dubuque. The story takes place in a future where humanity is losing a war against aliens. To turn the tide, scientists draft soldiers from the past to fight the war. Pratt will play a man who must confront his past to save the world. Simmons is expected to play Pratt's father, while details of Gilpin's character are being kept under wraps. Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid's Tale) will also co-star.

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Image via Starz

David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Jules Daly, Adam Kolbrenner and David Goyer are producing the film, which will go before cameras in September in Atlanta and Iceland. Rob Cowan will serve as an executive producer on the project, which Skydance executive Matt Grim will oversee on behalf of the company. Skydance is financing Ghost Draft and has developed the project from the outset, with Paramount onboard to distribute.

Gilpin has found herself in the spotlight this month, as not only did GLOW return for its third season on Netflix, but her upcoming Blumhouse thriller The Hunt had its release canceled by Universal in the wake of recent mass shootings. Gilpin recently co-starred in the Fox comedy Stuber, and she also re-teamed with that film's director, Michael Dowse, on the upcoming Netflix comedy Coffee & Kareem starring Ed Helms and Taraji P. Henson. Gilpin, who also stars in Sony's reboot of The Grudge, is represented by ICM Partners and Anonymous Content, and Variety broke the news of her casting.

Simmons won an Oscar for his performance in indie drama Whiplash and will soon be seen alongside Chadwick Boseman in STX's crime thriller 21 Bridges. He recently starred in the acclaimed Starz series Counterpart and Hulu's revival of Veronica Mars. He's repped by Gersh, and the Hollywood Reporter broke the news of his casting.

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Image via Universal/Blumhouse
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Image via Netflix