Omni Loop is a sci-fi drama by director and writer Bernardo Britto and stars Mary-Louise Parker as Zoya Lowe, a quantum physicist stuck in a time loop. She finds out she has a black hole in her chest and has a week to live, resulting in a repeat journey of finding a fix before it’s too late.

“I love time travel movies, just full stop period,” Britto tells Nerd Reactor. “I also really, really love time loop movies. I think it’s always a fun conceit. I don’t personally get sick of them. I think Edge of Tomorrow is incredible. I think Groundhog Day is perfect and Happy Death Day, even things like Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children where you’re like, ‘Oh, this is actually a time loop movie. I didn’t realize that.’ I think I actually looked at Edge of Tomorrow specifically for some sequences and some pacing things when I was writing the script way back when, but I haven’t consciously revisited them. I was too scared to rewatch Groundhog Day for fear that would mess me up forever.”

Britto’s biggest inspiration came from someone who passed away from his life. He wanted to direct a film that dealt with death and dying but wasn’t too depressing.

“I was close to someone that that was diagnosed with a terminal illness and they passed away, and I wanted to do something that was around that and death and dying, but in a life-affirming way, in a way that’s sort of uplifting or possibly even fun, which I guess is where the time travel things come in,” he said. “And I also had all these bloating time travel idea things, time travel pills. I had the idea of someone with a black hole in their chest, and all of a sudden it all kind of like filtered into one thing. And I realized that all these different strands are actually all the same idea. So it was really fun to kind of like synthesize it all into this thing.”

The director didn’t want to remake Groundhog Day or Edge of Tomorrow and wanted to add something new; for example, Zoya has a choice.

“And then I was like, ‘Well, I don’t want to just remake Groundhog Day. I don’t want to just remake Edge of Tomorrow.’ So for me, it was like, ‘What am I adding new to this? And how am I exploring something different?’ And I think for me, the difference is that for Zoya, the main character in Omni Loop, it is a choice that she makes every time she’s choosing to stay in this loop. She is taking the pill and going back every time. She’s not trying to get out of it. She’s trying to go further back if she can. So it becomes about the avoidance of life, rather than trying to get out of this loop so that you can live life. It really becomes about this choice where this is a person who’s too scared to live life.”

About Omni Loop

Synopsis: A quantum physicist (Mary-Louise Parker) finds herself stuck in a time loop, with a black hole growing in her chest and only a week to live. When she meets a gifted student (Ayo Edebiri), they team up to save her life – and to unlock the mysteries of time travel.

The film is written and directed by Bernardo Britto and produced by Benjamin Cohen, Patrick Donovan and David Hinojosa.

It stars Mary-Louise Parker, Ayo Edebiri, Hannah Pearl Utt, Chris Witaske, Carlos Jacott, Harris Yulin, Steven Maier and Eddie Cahill.

Omni Loop is in theaters and available on VOD on September 20, 2024.