Imogen Poots Cast In Zoe Saldana’s I Kill Giants

It looks like Imogen Poots is the latest talent to sign onto I Kill Giants. The film, which is based off Joe Kelly’s eponymous graphic novel, is set to start shooting later this month.

Most recently, it was announced that Zoe Saldana (Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek) had signed onto the film to play a school psychologist. The counselor forms a close bond with protagonist Barbara (Madison Wolfe) as the misfit student battles both real and imaginary monsters in her life. Saldana’s character will help Barbara overcome the trials she’s faced with both internally and externally despite the girl’s escapist behavior.

So far, there’s been no word on who Poots will be playing in I Kill Giants. The actress was most recently seen in Cameron Crowde’s Roadies on Showtime.

It’s been over a year since fans received confirmation that I Kill Giants would be leaping to the big screen. Joe Kelly announced the news, saying that Treehouse Pictures had agreed to finance the project. Anders Walter will direct the film with Chris Columbus acting as producer. Kelly himself adapted the screenplay from his critically acclaimed novel.

Speaking about the project, Columbus said, “Joe Kelly has written a deeply insightful story about a child using fantasy to navigate through a harsh reality, and I am excited and proud to finally be able to bring this wonderful material to the screen.”

Kelly also described his feelings about the theatrical adaptation, saying, “I’m overwhelmed by the enthusiasm, vision and sheer talent of the team we’ve assembled. Chris and Anders understand the book on an instinctive level and will translate it into a hell of a film. I could not be happier.”

If you’re unfamiliar with I Kill Giants, then you should know the story began as a graphic novel back in 2008. Kelly created the project alongside artist J. M. Ken Niimura and pitched the story to Image Comics for publication. And, if you want to hear a bit about the story, then Kelly provided a very succinct description during an interview he did with Newsarama.

“It’s a story about a girl who’s a bit of an outsider – she’s smart-assed and funny, but totally in our geekland: she’s obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons, she doesn’t have a lot of friends, she’s a bit of a social misfit,” he said. “She’s taken her fantasy life a little far, and really only talks about giants to people. She’s convinced that giants are real and giants are coming, and it’s her responsibility to stop them when they show up. This weird little fantasy life that she’s going has started seeping into her real life, and as we see things from her point of view, we see that she sees pixies and she sees signs in the clouds and other things that might be telling her that bad things might be coming.”

Since its publication, I Kill Giants has won a Gaiman Award (an overseas manga award selected by readers), the International Manga Award, and was even listed in the “Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens” list by the Young Adult Library Services Association in 2010. It was also awarded the title of “Best Indy Book of 2008” by IGN and was an Eisner Award finalist.

[H/T] Variety