Following events at FilMart upon announcing intergalatic martial arts adventure, Jiu-Jitsu, trade news at Screendaily is confirming a quintet of casting additions.
Actor Frank Grillo, and acting and martial arts star talents Tony Jaa and JuJu Chan will appear in the film with cameras set to role on June 24. Joining the trio are Rick Yune and Marie Avgeropoulos with Alain Moussi and Nicolas Cage leading.
Moussi will star as Jake Barnes, a war hero championing Earth’s liberation in an epic BJJ match that happens every six years against waves of alien invaders. Cage will play the role of Wylie, the leader of a team of jiu-jitsu fighters who take in Jake must and help him recover his memory and strength following his foreboding defeat at the hands of Brax, the indomitable alien leader.
Dimitri Logothetis will produce with Martin Barab, and will direct from a script he wrote with Jim McGrath based on the 2017 Acme Rocket Fuel comic.
Grillo last starred in films like Wheelman, The Purge franchise, Marvel’s Captain America and Toronto 2018 opener, Donnybrook. He will star oppsite actor Anthony Mackie in pending Netflix thriller, Point Blank, and Joe Carnahan’s action sci-fi, Boss Level.
Jaa last appeared in Furious Seven and Skin Trade, as well as Jesse Johnson’s ensemble action thriller, Triple Threat, and is soon slated to appear in upcoming game adaptation, Monster Hunter, with Milla Jovovich. Chan of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2 fame also has pending releases like Daniel Zirilli’s Hollow Point, Fruit Chan’s The Invincible Dragon, and Netflix’s late 2019 series, Wu Assassins.
Yune has appeared in Olympus Has Fallen and Universal’s inaugural Fast And The Furious and also appears in TV series Prison Break and Netflix series Marco Polo. Avgeropoulos currently stars in The 100 after her breakout in I Love You, Beth Cooper.