Focus launches 'Mars' at AFM

LONDON -- Irish helmer Ruairi Robinson is placed to direct his first feature film "The Final Days on Mars," with different script by Clive Dawson, which Focus Features Intl. is going to be pre-supplying purchasers in the American Film Market now. The thriller, that is in pre-production, is going to be created by Texting Films' Michael Kuhn ("The Duchess," "Being John Malkovich") and Andrea Cornwall ("The Scouting Book for Boys"). Pic, that was formerly entitled "The Artists," follows the storyline of the astronaut crew on Mars near a significant breakthrough getting collected rock individuals that reveal microscopic proof of existence. Within their last hrs in the world, two astronauts return to a cavernous valley at first glance of Mars to gather further evidence for his or her discovery, but a routine excavation turns deadly when one of these falls to his dying and the is taken like a host and re-animated through the very existence form they searched for to uncover. Pic is skedded to lense at the begining of 2012 on location in Jordan and Shepperton Galleries within the U.K. Robinson can also be skedded to direct another high-concept sci-fi pic, "The Fallen," that they is developing with Lionsgate U.K. and producer Kris Thykier. Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com