D.O.A.: Pierre Morel To Direct Sci-Fi Thriller Launching At EFM
Pierre Morel will helm sci-fi thriller D.O.A from a script by Ben Magid (The Call). The film is one of a pair of titles announced this week with the launch of Sentient Pictures International, the second of which is award-winning director Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje’s (Farming) prison drama, Last Meals starring Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods) and Boyd Holbrook (Logan).
Casting updates remain pending on D.O.A., which centers on John Porter, a ghost hunter who, in the years following the death of his family, has dedicated his life to hunting down ghosts that illegally immigrate into the human world. When he crosses paths with energetic runaway Jenny, who holds the truth behind the mysterious appearance of ghosts, he is forced to overcome his own prejudices and stop a war before it’s too late.
Morel is also producing D.O.A. alongside Dallas and L.A.-based Sentient Entertainment founder and CEO Renee Tab and producer Christopher Tuffin; Tab and Tuffin are in turn joined by Morel in overseeing SPI on foreign sales, finance, and production alongside former Relativity COO (and television president) Andrew Marcus.
SPI is also solidifying its extensive network of global distribution partners to support its growing slate. In addition to continuing its relationship with Italia in the Middle East, Greece Turkey and India, the company has also closed strategic first look deals with such top international distributors as Leonine in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, Volga in Russia and CIS, Empire in South Africa and Vertical Distribution in Eastern Europe.
“Our ambition is to align ourselves with partners who came to this business to entertain and move audiences of all walks of life,” said Tuffin. “Film was once a medium that brought us together versus divided us. Our goal is to bring that commonality back to the filmgoing experience.”
Sentient Entertainment recently sold Universal the remake rights to Nicole Kidman’s 2010 classic horror/thriller The Others, which grossed over $210M worldwide theatrically. The company is also currently in production on Morel’s action comedy Freelance starring John Cena and Alison Brie, and has also secured remake rights, multi-award winning and BAFTA Award-nominated filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar’s 1996 horror, Thesis.
Morel is also best known for directing French cult-classic Parkour actioner, District B13, and actioners From Paris with Love, The Gunman, Jennifer Garner-starrer Peppermint and milestone Arabic language thriller, Ambush.
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