Amblin’s sci-fi romance Intelligent Life is moving right ahead, even as Selma filmmaker Ava DuVernay exited the project earlier this year in favor of directing Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time. Per Variety, Game Change and Meet the Parents director Jay Roach is now in talks to rewrite the script and potentially direct the project, which revolves around a United Nations employee who makes contact with a woman who may or may not be an alien.

The film is based on an original idea by Jurassic World helmer Colin Trevorrow, who wrote the initial script with his writing partner Derek Connolly. DuVernay became attached in the wake of Selma’s success, with Lupita Nyong’o signing on to star, but when it was clear that she had to choose between this or A Wrinkle in Time, she chose the Disney tentpole and left Intelligent Life. With DuVernay gone, Nyong’o also departed the project.

Amblin is now trying to get the film ready to go, with Trevorrow producing the sci-fi pic alongside Frank Marshall and Peter Saraf. Roach is a bit of an odd choice here, but he’s had a fascinating career path. He made his mark helming comedies like the Austin Powers trilogy and Meet the Parents, but made the switch to dramatic films like HBO’s Recount and Game Change as of late, most recently helming the Bryan Cranston-fronted biopic Trumbo and the LBJ film All the Way.

Roach hasn’t committed to directing yet, but Variety notes that Amblin is pushing for him to add “director” to his duties after he performs the script rewrite. We shall see.

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Image via HBO