Paramount Plus’ upcoming sci-fi action film, Infinite, tells the story of a troubled man who discovers he has been reincarnated multiple times and who then joins the ranks of a secret group of other “Infinites” out to save the world. The trailer just dropped for the film, and IGN also has an exclusive first look photo from Infinite (seen below), which is directed by Antoine Fuqua and stars Mark Wahlberg.
Loosely adapted from D. Eric Maikranz’s fantasy novel The Reincarnationist Papers, Infinite follows Evan McCauley (Mark Wahlberg), a self-medicated man diagnosed as schizophrenic because he’s plagued by memories of places he’s never visited. But just as he’s on the verge of a mental breakdown, Evan is visited by the Infinites, a secret society who informs him that not only are his memories real, but they are from all his past lives. The Infinites take Evan into their fold and help him unlock the answers to his memories. Together, they must stop one of their own, Bathurst (Chiwetel Ejiofor), from his mission to destroy humanity.
Check out our exclusive photo from Infinite in the slideshow below:
Infinite Likened to The Matrix
The Infinites are divided into three factions, each with their own respective philosophies. There are the Believers (who Evan joins), the Hedonists (who are just out to have a good time), and the Nihilists (who Bathurst belongs to and, well, their name gives you a pretty good hint at what they’re into). Infinite producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who was a production exec at Warner Bros. before he became a film producer, likened the property to another sci-fi/action film he worked on: The Matrix.
“The experience I had on The Matrix was it was ideas that were intellectual, they were things that were emotional, but they stimulated more conversation. And the same thing happened when I looked at Infinite and said to myself, ‘What's the experience of this movie? What's the deeper significance?’ if you would,” di Bonaventura told IGN in a phone interview. “And what happened on the movie was everyone got sucked into that vortex of like, ‘Oh, so if you live life that many times, how do you view life? Do your values change?’ And it was just one of those things that really captured me and proved out in the movie.”
Antoine Fuqua on Directing Infinite
For director Antoine Fuqua -- the filmmaker behind Training Day, The Magnificent Seven, and The Equalizer -- Infinite offered him a chance to play in a more fantastical world than he’s accustomed to exploring on the big screen. Fuqua told IGN that he enjoys sci-fi movies and the creativity and imagination that filmmakers bring to them, and elaborated on the aspects of the story that drew him to the project.
Having lived so many lives, the Infinites are gifted with the memories, knowledge, and skills they have acquired over the centuries. Despite this very sci-fi premise, Fuqua said Infinite is more “grounded” than other fantastical films such as superhero movies “because the Infinites have to earn their ability. They're not born with it. It's based on the idea that if you live a thousand lifetimes, if you could pull on those memories of your other lives in those skills, then we would all be Michael Jordan if you had that ability. It felt more grounded in that way for me. At the same time, it has some pretty fantastic visuals. I get to flex [my] creative muscles.”
The desire to set Infinite in a heightened reality that could remain relatable was a key reason why Fuqua was hired to direct the movie, according to di Bonaventura, who previously worked with Fuqua on Training Day and Shooter. “I wanted to make sure the movie was grounded, and I knew Antoine could do that and do that exceedingly well."
What Makes Mark Wahlberg Right for Infinite
Making Infinite feel grounded amidst all the fantastical elements is also the reason why Mark Wahlberg was cast in the lead role of Evan McCauley. “One of Mark's great qualities is that there's a sense of authenticity to who he is and there's a basic decency and sort of a grounding that makes him extremely relatable,” di Bonaventura said. Having an everyman like Wahlberg being the audience’s guide through this heightened world also makes Evan’s skepticism about what he’s discovering mirror the audience’s own gradual suspension of disbelief.
As di Bonaventura put it, “You want a guy that's saying, ‘Really? You're going to try to convince me of this. Really? I'm reincarnated?’ And Mark's great for that. And then, of course, you want him to rise to being the hero, which Mark is very good at. So he fits what we were hoping for out of that character.”
Chiwetel Ejiofor Plays Infinite's "Tragic Villain"
Every hero needs a strong antagonist and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character Bathurst is “a tragic villain,” according to Fuqua. “He was once an Infinite that possibly still believed in other things, whether it be God or other things in life. He's been in constant search of that God, of that spirit, and all he keeps getting is reborn, reborn, reborn, without being enlightened, if you will, so that for him, it's just becoming darker and darker and more tortured.”
In the scene depicted in our exclusive photo, Bathurst is confronting Evan, but for what purpose? As Fuqua explained, “Chiwetel's character has a suspicion of who [Evan] might be, and if he's who he thinks he is, then they have fought many wars against each other, basically good and evil. Their relationship is based on a deep history of all the lives they've both lived. Chiwetel's character is very clear on who he is. He's a character that's supposed to be the oldest man. He's been here from the beginning. Mark's character, Evan, doesn't know who he is, so Chiwetel's trying to stimulate his memory [in this scene].”
Infinite will premiere exclusively on Paramount+ on Thursday, June 10.
