One of the toughest races in the world is heading to Hollywood.
Shailene Woodley has signed on to star in Ultra, a new psychological thriller set during the Badwater 135 Ultramarathon, a 135-mile race through California’s Death Valley that regularly pushes runners to the edge of human endurance.
Woodley will play Eve, an ultramarathoner who enters the race after the tragic death of her twin sister. As the miles stretch on and the desert heat builds, Eve begins to sense she’s being followed by a mysterious runner in white, turning the already brutal race into a fight for both body and mind.
The film comes from writer-director Victoria Negri, who isn’t just borrowing from running culture, she lives it. Negri has completed multiple 100-mile races and says the story was shaped by her own experience using ultrarunning to process grief.
“Through testing my limits in each of these epic races, I process loss, physical pain being the greatest metaphor for the emotional,” Negri said in a statement. “Although my grief is always with me, I’ve learned I’m strong enough to handle it, to handle anything.”
That sense of personal connection could make Ultra stand out. For most of us in the running world, movies about the sport tend to miss the mark, too clean, too romanticized, too far removed from the gritty reality of long miles and self-doubt. Negri’s background gives hope that Ultra might finally show the mental and emotional side of endurance running with some authenticity.
The project is being produced by Savage Rose Films (Everything Everywhere All at Once, American Honey) and Iris Torres (In Dubious Battle). Mister Smith Entertainment is handling international sales, while WME Independent will manage U.S. distribution.
The Badwater 135, often dubbed “the world’s toughest footrace,” begins at Badwater Basin, 282 feet below sea level, and climbs nearly 14,000 feet to finish at the trailhead of Mount Whitney. Runners battle extreme heat, steep climbs, and sleep deprivation across 135 unforgiving miles. It’s the perfect backdrop for a story about obsession, loss, and what it really means to endure.
Woodley, known for Big Little Lies, Divergent, and The Fault in Our Stars, recently appeared in the action thriller Motor City. While Ultra will likely have plenty of suspense, for runners it’s also a rare chance to see our sport represented in a way that captures both its brutality and its beauty.
If Ultra sticks the landing, it might do for ultrarunning what Free Solo did for climbing, reveal to a wider audience just how much of endurance sport happens inside the mind.
