afm 2021

THE INTERPRETER: Jake Gyllenhaal To Topline Action Thriller From Guy Ritchie

News fresh from the AFM ticker tape brings word of the casting of Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal (The Guilty, Prisoners, Source Code, Jarhead) for The Gentlemen helmer Guy Ritchie’s latest action-thriller, The Interpreter. Filming is set to commence on January 10, 2022, on location in Spain, with Ritchie directing from a script he co-wrote with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies. In The Interpreter, Gyllenhaal will play Sergeant John Kinley, on his last tour of duty and teamed with Ahmed, a local interpreter, to survey the region. When their unit is ambushed on patrol, Kinley and Ahmed are the only survivors. With enemy combatants in pursuit, Ahmed risks his own life to carry an injured Kinley across miles of grueling terrain to safety. Back on U.S. soil, Kinley learns that Ahmed and his family were not given passage to America as promised. Determined to protect his friend and repay his debt, Kinley […]

SILENT NIGHT: Mute Joel Kinnaman Action Thriller Signals John Woo’s Return To Hollywood

Lee B. Golden III

How’s this for ambitious? Legendary filmmaker John Woo is readying a Hollywood comeback with Silent Night, a literally dialogue-free action thriller starring Joel Kinnaman (The Suicide Squad). Deadline‘s AFM-attentive Mike Fleming Jr. broke the news and revealed the following: Sources tell Deadline the story is basic, as a normal father heads into the underworld to avenge his young son’s death. Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Christian Mercuri and Lori Tilkin are reportedly producing with Capstone’s Ruzanna Kegeyan overseeing the project with Joe Gatta. As Fleming Jr. reports, Capstone is in negotiations to finance. This is a big move for Woo in the years since he transitioned from directing hits like Hard Boiled, The Killer And Once A Thief, to riding out his prolific successes on films like Hard Target, Broken Arrow, Face/Off and Antoine Fuqua’s The Replacement Killers, among other titles that fizzled out during his reign stateside ’til 2003. At […]

HFG - THE BLACK DEMON - Josh Lucas - photo credit Luis Mora.jpg

THE BLACK DEMON: Josh Lucas Toplines High Seas Creature Thriller Filming In December

Lee B. Golden III

Josh Lucas (Ford v Ferrari, The Forever Purge) is set to star in The Black Demon, from director Adrian Grunberg (Rambo: Last Blood, Get the Gringo). Lucas will star from a script by Boise Esquerra (Austin Film Festival nominated “Blackwater”), with cameras set to roll in December 2021 on location in the Dominican Republic. Pic hails from Javier Chapa of Mucho Mas Media, and Jon Silk of Silk Mass who are producing next to R.U. Robot’s Peter Jakl. Mucho Mas’ Phillip Braun, Simon Wise, Bruce Barshop, Vincent Cordero, and Highland Film Group’s Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier, Henry Winterstern are all exec producing, as will JJ Caruth of HFG’s domestic distribution shingle, The Avenue, and R.U. Robot’s Martin J. Barab. Here is the logline: When oilman Paul Sturges (Lucas) takes his family on vacation to Bahia Azul, the vibrant coastal town he and his wife once knew has mysteriously crumbled and the locals […]

UNCLE: Sope Dìrísù Cast In Title Role Of New Revenge Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

One of the best gifts to have ever come from the first season of hit series, Gangs Of London, was seeing actor Sope Dìrísù take the mantle as an undercover cop weaving his way into the violent and brutal UK underworld opposite lead actor Joe Cole. It’s a milestone performance that I look forward to spotting in season two as Dìrísù keeps up the habit, and that interest now extends even further in the wake of Tom Grater’s latest Deadline exclusive on revenge thriller, Uncle. After the brutal murder of their family, barely teenage Millie and her uncle John (Dìrísù) embark on a brutal mission of revenge and retribution. But as they get closer to the people responsible, Millie must decide if she is ready to follow the bloody path of vengeance… and its violent, premature journey into adulthood. Casting is currently underway for the role of Millie, according to […]